Belgium shares higher at close of trade; BEL 20 up 0.39%

Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities , Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.39%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Engie SA (PA: ENGIE ), which rose 2.43% or 0.33 points to trade at 13.89 at the close. bpost NV (BR: BPOST ) added 2.01% or 0.29 points to end at 14.70 and Galapagos NV (AS: GLPG ) was up 1.69% or 1.460 points to 88.080 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Aperam SA (AS: APAM ), which lost 3.10% or 1.26 points to trade at 39.33 in late trade. ING Groep NV (AS: INGA ) declined 0.61% or 0.078 points to end at 12.722 and KBC (BR: KBC ) shed 0.53% or 0.360 points to 66.940.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 65 to 50 and 17 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.49% or 6.40 to $1307.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $66.67 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.87% or 0.67 to trade at $76.07 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 1.40% to 1.1626, while EUR/GBP fell 0.94% to 0.8733.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.04% at 94.53.