Investing.com – Belgium stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 declined 0.46%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB), which rose 1.02% or 1.35 points to trade at 133.35 at the close. Meanwhile, Proximus NV (BR:PROX) added 0.71% or 0.20 points to end at 27.85 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 0.49% or 0.12 points to 23.50 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were UCB (BR:UCB), which fell 2.73% or 1.87 points to trade at 66.68 at the close. ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) declined 0.97% or 0.130 points to end at 13.205 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was down 0.83% or 0.24 points to 28.84.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 70 to 45 and 10 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ackermans V.Haaren (BR:ACKB) rose to 52-week highs; up 1.02% or 1.35 to 133.35.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.36% or 16.75 to $1250.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.49% or 0.80 to hit $54.39 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.22% or 0.68 to trade at $56.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.26% to 1.0583, while EUR/GBP fell 0.58% to 0.8431.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.35% at 100.96.