Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.51%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.61%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Societe Generale SA (PA:SOGN), which rose 4.15% or 1.21 points to trade at 30.21 at the close. Credit Agricole SA (PA:CAGR) added 3.92% or 0.390 points to end at 10.346 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) was up 3.32% or 1.39 points to 43.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Danone SA (PA:DANO), which lost 1.27% or 0.79 points to trade at 61.47 in late trade. Hermes International SCA (PA:HRMS) declined 1.03% or 5.10 points to end at 488.90 and L’Oreal SA (PA:OREP) shed 0.84% or 1.65 points to 195.25.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Technicolor (PA:TCH) which rose 7.95% to 1.039, Altran Technologies (PA:ALTT) which was up 7.46% to settle at 7.995 and Worldline SA (PA:WLN) which gained 7.14% to close at 42.920.
The worst performers were DBV Technologies (PA:DBV) which was down 3.12% to 13.660 in late trade, Iliad (PA:ILD) which lost 2.92% to settle at 103.20 and Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which was down 1.76% to 13.70 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 360 to 210 and 91 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 5.68% to 16.09 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.46% or 5.95 to $1294.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.59% or 0.31 to hit $51.80 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $60.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.11% to 1.1401, while EUR/GBP rose 0.00% to 0.8872.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.00% at 95.672.