Investing.com – Belgium stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 0.43%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Etablissementen Fr Colruyt NV (BR:COLR), which rose 3.03% or 1.25 points to trade at 42.65 at the close. Meanwhile, NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB) added 1.58% or 0.56 points to end at 36.25 and Umicore SA (BR:UMI) was up 0.63% or 0.25 points to 39.38 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which fell 1.91% or 1.390 points to trade at 71.320 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) declined 1.56% or 0.23 points to end at 14.47 and Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) was down 1.52% or 0.43 points to 27.80.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 79 to 40 and 9 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.55% or 6.90 to $1255.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.41% or 0.23 to hit $56.83 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.39 to trade at $62.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.40% to 1.1779, while EUR/GBP fell 0.50% to 0.8771.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 93.67.