Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.52%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were bpost NV (BR:BPOST), which rose 4.34% or 0.48 points to trade at 11.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Umicore SA (BR:UMI) added 3.49% or 1.28 points to end at 37.96 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 2.10% or 1.98 points to 96.44 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Aperam SA (AS:APAM), which fell 2.52% or 0.66 points to trade at 25.50 at the close. Argen-X (BR:ARGX) declined 2.15% or 1.80 points to end at 82.00 and ING Groep NV (AS:INGA) was down 1.15% or 0.126 points to 10.804.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 80 to 37 and 10 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.15% or 1.80 to $1231.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.80% or 1.41 to hit $51.70 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.91% or 1.13 to trade at $60.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.11% to 1.1379, while EUR/GBP rose 0.45% to 0.8903.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 96.755.