Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.12%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 4.04% or 3.220 points to trade at 83.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Sofina (BR:SOF) added 2.29% or 3.20 points to end at 143.20 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 1.06% or 1.20 points to 114.75 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were UCB (BR:UCB), which fell 2.18% or 1.46 points to trade at 65.40 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) declined 1.22% or 0.26 points to end at 20.98 and Telenet Group (BR:TNET) was down 1.03% or 0.55 points to 53.05.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 57 to 47 and 16 ended unchanged.
Shares in Sofina (BR:SOF) rose to all time highs; up 2.29% or 3.20 to 143.20.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.49% or 6.60 to $1348.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.61% or 0.41 to hit $67.48 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.93% or 0.67 to trade at $72.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.2326, while EUR/GBP fell 0.20% to 0.8646.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 89.51.