Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.29%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were L’Oreal SA (PA:OREP), which rose 3.76% or 6.60 points to trade at 182.05 at the close. Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) added 2.61% or 0.34 points to end at 13.55 and Danone SA (PA:DANO) was up 2.05% or 1.31 points to 65.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included STMicroelectronics NV (PA:STM), which lost 5.42% or 1.035 points to trade at 18.050 in late trade. Cap Gemini SA (PA:CAPP) declined 2.47% or 2.55 points to end at 100.70 and TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) shed 1.99% or 0.47 points to 23.19.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Suez SA (PA:SEVI) which rose 3.76% to 11.766, L’Oreal SA (PA:OREP) which was up 3.76% to settle at 182.05 and Biomerieux SA (PA:BIOX) which gained 3.19% to close at 68.00.
The worst performers were Soitec SA (PA:SOIT) which was down 7.17% to 58.900 in late trade, STMicroelectronics NV (PA:STM) which lost 5.42% to settle at 18.050 and Eurofins Scientific (PA:EUFI) which was down 4.78% to 434.00 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 374 to 193 and 86 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 2.83% to 18.12.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.16% or 15.60 to $1326.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.75% or 1.14 to hit $64.11 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.48% or 1.03 to trade at $68.43 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.46% to 1.2346, while EUR/GBP fell 0.18% to 0.8749.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 89.45.