Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Oil & Gas Producers and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.41% to hit a new 1-month high, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA), which rose 7.61% or 0.29 points to trade at 4.17 at the close. Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) added 4.20% or 1.39 points to end at 34.38 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) was up 3.34% or 1.47 points to 45.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pernod Ricard SA (PA:PERP), which lost 2.14% or 2.15 points to trade at 98.25 in late trade. L`Oreal SA (PA:OREP) declined 2.01% or 3.20 points to end at 155.75 and Danone SA (PA:DANO) shed 1.86% or 1.20 points to 63.33.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were CGG (PA:GEPH) which rose 8.20% to 0.66, ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA) which was up 7.61% to settle at 4.17 and Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which gained 7.11% to close at 5.63.
The worst performers were Biomerieux (PA:BIOX) which was down 14.32% to 101.10 in late trade, Nexity (PA:NEXI) which lost 3.27% to settle at 41.95 and Eiffage (PA:FOUG) which was down 3.15% to 63.09 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 360 to 316 and 99 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.95% to 26.11 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.82% or 10.10 to $1240.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.03% or 0.01 to hit $34.41 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.11 to trade at $36.70 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.19% to 1.0846, while EUR/GBP fell 0.92% to 0.7718.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 98.42.