Netherlands shares lower at close of trade; AEX down 0.48%

Investing.com – Netherlands equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms , Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Amsterdam, the AEX declined 0.48% to hit a new 52-week low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the AEX were Philips Lighting NV (AS: LIGHT ), which rose 2.27% or 0.44 points to trade at 19.86 at the close. ASML Holding NV (AS: ASML ) added 1.33% or 1.74 points to end at 132.62 and ASR Nederland NV (AS: ASRNL ) was up 0.77% or 0.26 points to 33.96 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Altice NV (AS: ATCA ), which lost 4.32% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.61 in late trade. Galapagos NV (AS: GLPG ) declined 3.05% or 2.380 points to end at 75.600 and ABN AMRO Group NV (AS: ABNd ) shed 1.82% or 0.37 points to 19.94.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 98 to 29 and 14 ended unchanged on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

The AEX Volatility , which measures the implied volatility of AEX options, was up 12.68% to 23.86 a new 6-month high.

In commodities trading, Crude oil for February delivery was down 3.71% or 1.73 to $44.88 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in March fell 3.80% or 2.10 to hit $53.19 a barrel, while the February Gold Futures contract rose 0.78% or 9.95 to trade at $1279.70 a troy ounce.

EUR/USD was up 0.78% to 1.1441, while EUR/GBP rose 0.63% to 0.9044.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.56% at 96.042.