Investing.com – Belgium equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were UCB (BR:UCB), which rose 2.03% or 1.43 points to trade at 71.85 at the close. Delhaize Group (BR:DELB) added 1.36% or 1.26 points to end at 94.04 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was up 1.18% or 0.34 points to 28.65 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telenet Group (BR:TNET), which lost 1.59% or 0.74 points to trade at 45.92 in late trade. ING Groep NV (AS:ING) declined 1.47% or 0.165 points to end at 11.075 and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert SA (BR:GBLB) shed 1.26% or 0.92 points to 72.27.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 81 to 66 and 8 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 1.96% or 24.50 to $1224.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 3.09% or 1.28 to hit $40.17 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.44% or 1.02 to trade at $40.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.36% to 1.1177, while EUR/GBP rose 0.42% to 0.7928.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.48% at 96.13.