Belgium shares higher at close of trade; BEL 20 up 0.30%

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

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.30%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ageas (EBR:AGES), which rose 3.91% or 1.74 points to trade at 46.24 at the close. Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) added 1.07% or 0.28 points to end at 26.52 and Sofina (EBR:SOF) was up 0.74% or 1.60 points to 217.60 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Umicore SA (EBR:UMI), which lost 3.18% or 0.37 points to trade at 11.26 in late trade. Melexis NV (EBR:MLXS) declined 1.55% or 1.25 points to end at 79.30 and Aperam SA (AS:APAM) shed 0.70% or 0.18 points to 25.48.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 60 to 35 and 13 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.49% or 12.40 to $2,540.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.07% or 0.81 to hit $74.72 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 1.09% or 0.86 to trade at $77.80 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.57% to 1.11, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.07% to 0.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.50% at 100.96.