Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 1.75%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 3.97% or 0.88 points to trade at 23.04 at the close. Meanwhile, Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG) added 2.84% or 2.300 points to end at 83.200 and Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR) was up 1.90% or 0.84 points to 44.97 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Cofinimmo-Sicafi (BR:COFB), which fell 1.13% or 1.20 points to trade at 104.70 at the close. Aperam SA (AS:APAM) declined 0.71% or 0.29 points to end at 40.25 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was down 0.50% or 0.14 points to 27.76.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 71 to 43 and 18 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.26% or 3.40 to $1325.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.68% or 1.61 to hit $61.73 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.41% or 1.53 to trade at $65.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.10% to 1.2323, while EUR/GBP fell 0.27% to 0.8892.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 90.02.