Belgium shares higher at close of trade; BEL 20 up 1.28%

Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 1.28%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore SA (EBR:UMI), which rose 3.56% or 0.39 points to trade at 11.36 at the close. KBC Groep NV (EBR:KBC) added 2.64% or 1.76 points to end at 68.44 and UCB SA (EBR:UCB) was up 2.04% or 3.60 points to 180.40 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which lost 0.16% or 0.04 points to trade at 24.78 in late trade. Aedifica (EBR:AOO) added 0.08% or 0.05 points to end at 59.10 and Cofinimmo SA (EBR:COFB) gained 0.09% or 0.05 points to 58.00.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 55 to 32 and 14 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.12% or 3.35 to $2,752.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.00% or 0.69 to hit $69.95 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.95% or 0.69 to trade at $73.50 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.30% to 1.09, while EUR/GBP fell 0.71% to 0.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 104.09.