– 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.