Investing.com – Belgium equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the BEL Utilities Net Return, BEL Basic Materials Net Return and BEL Beverages Net Return sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 1.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the BEL 20 were Argen-X (EBR:ARGX), which rose 2.37% or 8.30 points to trade at 358.60 at the close. UCB SA (EBR:UCB) added 0.52% or 0.70 points to end at 135.95 and Proximus NV (EBR:PROX) was up 0.21% or 0.02 points to 7.25 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Umicore SA (EBR:UMI), which fell 7.15% or 1.08 points to trade at 14.03 in late trade. Solvay SA (EBR:SOLB) declined 3.17% or 1.04 points to end at 31.78 and Melexis NV (EBR:MLXS) down 3.10% or 2.65 points to 82.80.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones by 75 to 21 and 14 ended unchanged on the Brussels Stock Exchange.
Shares in Umicore SA (EBR:UMI) fell to 5-year lows; down 7.15% or 1.08 to 14.03. Shares in UCB SA (EBR:UCB) rose to all time highs; up 0.52% or 0.70 to 135.95.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.80% or 42.30 to $2,312.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.18% or 0.14 to hit $78.36 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.12% or 0.10 to trade at $82.50 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.52% to 1.08, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.22% to 0.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 104.73.