Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.19%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ageas (BR:AGES), which rose 1.41% or 0.535 points to trade at 38.500 at the close. Meanwhile, Umicore NV (BR:UMI) added 1.34% or 0.72 points to end at 54.46 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 1.05% or 0.680 points to 65.680 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI), which fell 0.54% or 0.55 points to trade at 100.50 at the close. Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) declined 0.37% or 0.10 points to end at 28.28 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was down 0.32% or 0.35 points to 110.55.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 62 to 55 and 9 ended unchanged.
Shares in Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) rose to all time highs; gaining 1.05% or 0.680 to 65.680.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.72% or 8.50 to $1172.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.61% or 0.33 to hit $54.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.47% or 0.27 to trade at $57.16 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.58% to 1.0543, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.8576.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.72% at 102.12.