Belgian stocks finished the trading day in negative territory on Friday, with the BEL 20 index retreating 0.02% at the close in Brussels. The decline was driven primarily by weakness in the Consumer Goods, Technology and Industrials sectors.
The session's leaders and laggards on the BEL 20 were as follows:
- Top performers
- Argen-X (EBR:ARGX) rose 1.44%, gaining 11.00 points to close at 773.80.
- Azelis Corporate Services NV (EBR:AZE) added 0.82%, or 0.08 points, to finish at 9.88.
- KBC Groep NV (EBR:KBC) was up 0.50%, or 0.60 points, ending the session at 119.65 in late trade.
- Worst performers
- Umicore SA (EBR:UMI) declined 3.79%, down 0.90 points to settle at 22.82.
- D’Ieteren NV (EBR:IETB) fell 1.94%, losing 3.20 points to close at 161.80.
- Solvay SA (EBR:SOLB) slipped 1.51%, or 0.42 points, to end the day at 27.38.
Market breadth on the Brussels Stock Exchange favored decliners: 48 stocks fell versus 36 that advanced, while 20 issues finished unchanged.
Commodities showed mixed moves: August gold futures dropped 1.90%, a decline of 80.58 to $4,165.32 a troy ounce. In oil markets, July crude rose 0.05% (up 0.04) to $76.64 a barrel, and the August Brent contract gained 1.00% (up 0.80) to trade at $80.65 a barrel.
Currency pairs and the dollar index were broadly stable to slightly softer. EUR/USD was little changed at 1.15, with a quoted movement of 0.08%. EUR/GBP was effectively unchanged at 0.87, showing a 0.07% move. The US Dollar Index Futures edged down 0.02% to 100.60.
Overall, the session in Brussels saw modest downward pressure on the benchmark, with notable weakness among several large-cap names in the Consumer Goods, Technology and Industrials sectors, while commodity and currency dynamics were mixed heading into the weekend.