Netherlands shares higher at close of trade; AEX up 0.60%

Investing.com – Netherlands equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare , Telecoms and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Amsterdam, the AEX gained 0.60%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the AEX were Koninklijke Philips NV (AS: PHG ), which rose 3.48% or 1.11 points to trade at 32.85 at the close. Altice NV (AS: ATCA ) added 2.73% or 0.22 points to end at 8.29 and SBM Offshore NV (AS: SBMO ) was up 2.19% or 0.30 points to 13.97 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS: GLPG ), which lost 1.30% or 1.120 points to trade at 84.740 in late trade. Heineken (AS: HEIN ) declined 1.26% or 1.10 points to end at 86.36 and Akzo Nobel (AS: AKZO ) shed 1.17% or 0.94 points to 79.70.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 57 to 54 and 13 ended unchanged on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

The AEX Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of AEX options, was down 14.06% to 11.67 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for April delivery was up 1.65% or 1.01 to $62.20 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in May rose 1.38% or 0.90 to hit $66.02 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.40% or 5.30 to trade at $1312.50 a troy ounce.

EUR/USD was down 0.21% to 1.2279, while EUR/GBP fell 0.19% to 0.8812.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 90.27.