Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 2.46%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 5.49% or 4.900 points to trade at 94.180 at the close. Meanwhile, bpost NV (BR:BPOST) added 4.79% or 1.26 points to end at 27.56 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) was up 4.29% or 1.72 points to 41.81 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which rose 0.28% or 0.10 points to trade at 35.92 at the close. Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) added 0.99% or 1.10 points to end at 112.20 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) was up 1.11% or 0.14 points to 13.18.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 98 to 21 and 9 ended unchanged.
Shares in bpost NV (BR:BPOST) rose to all time highs; rising 4.79% or 1.26 to 27.56.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.66% or 8.80 to $1320.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 2.33% or 1.48 to hit $61.91 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.76% or 1.18 to trade at $65.68 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.78% to 1.2279, while EUR/GBP fell 0.26% to 0.8849.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.66% at 90.11.