Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.64%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Solvay SA (EBR:SOLB), which rose 3.76% or 1.17 points to trade at 32.30 at the close. Meanwhile, Ackermans & Van Haaren NV (EBR:ACKB) added 3.18% or 5.70 points to end at 185.00 and Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) was up 2.40% or 0.62 points to 26.46 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Umicore SA (EBR:UMI), which fell 2.53% or 0.26 points to trade at 10.03 at the close. Melexis NV (EBR:MLXS) declined 2.20% or 1.25 points to end at 55.65 and KBC Groep NV (EBR:KBC) was down 0.59% or 0.40 points to 67.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 52 to 41 and 15 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.66% or 17.44 to $2,663.74 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.52% or 0.36 to hit $68.41 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.58% or 0.42 to trade at $71.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.87% to 1.06, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.01% to 0.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.97% at 105.93.