Investing.com – Belgium stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Consumer Goods, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 lost 0.79% to hit a new 6-months low.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX), which rose 0.77% or 0.16 points to trade at 21.06 at the close. Meanwhile, KBC (BR:KBC) added 0.66% or 0.460 points to end at 70.440 and bpost NV (BR:BPOST) was up 0.48% or 0.09 points to 18.98 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Umicore SA (BR:UMI), which fell 2.52% or 1.16 points to trade at 44.79 at the close. Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV (BR:ABI) declined 2.03% or 1.81 points to end at 87.28 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was down 1.71% or 1.95 points to 112.35.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 78 to 39 and 11 ended unchanged.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.58% or 21.00 to $1348.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.68% or 1.08 to hit $65.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.45% or 1.00 to trade at $69.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.48% to 1.2361, while EUR/GBP rose 0.09% to 0.8735.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.46% at 89.06.