Belgium stocks higher at close of trade; BEL 20 up 0.25%

Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 added 0.25%.

The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 3.92% or 0.88 points to trade at 23.34 at the close. Meanwhile, Umicore SA (EBR:UMI) added 2.96% or 0.33 points to end at 11.47 and Syensqo SA (EBR:SYENS) was up 1.29% or 0.90 points to 70.86 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Argen-X (EBR:ARGX), which fell 1.38% or 6.50 points to trade at 464.60 at the close. Ackermans&Van Haaren NV (EBR:ACKB) declined 0.58% or 1.00 points to end at 172.00 and UCB SA (EBR:UCB) was down 0.37% or 0.60 points to 160.95.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 61 to 28 and 16 ended unchanged.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.09% or 27.35 to $2,544.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.49% or 1.82 to hit $74.83 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 2.33% or 1.80 to trade at $79.02 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.59% to 1.12, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.24% to 0.85.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.67% at 100.72.