Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology , Telecoms and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 rose 0.22%.

The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Umicore SA (EBR: UMI ), which rose 2.40% or 0.23 points to trade at 9.60 at the close. Meanwhile, Montea C.V.A. (EBR: MONTE ) added 1.87% or 1.20 points to end at 65.50 and Warehouses de Pauw Comm VA (EBR: WDPP ) was up 1.41% or 0.30 points to 21.64 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Azelis Corporate Services NV (EBR: AZE ), which fell 2.76% or 0.42 points to trade at 14.82 at the close. Lotus Bakeries (EBR: LOTB ) declined 1.32% or 120.00 points to end at 8,970.00 and Elia (EBR: ELI ) was down 0.95% or 0.90 points to 93.60.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 57 to 33 and 17 ended unchanged.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.86% or 28.61 to $3,351.01 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.89% or 0.55 to hit $61.29 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.07% or 0.69 to trade at $63.63 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.74% to 1.14, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.48% to 0.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.56% at 99.22.