Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.11%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Societe Generale (PA:SOGN), which rose 1.45% or 0.66 points to trade at 45.80 at the close. Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) added 1.16% or 1.25 points to end at 109.25 and Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) was up 1.14% or 1.25 points to 110.95 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN), which lost 1.35% or 0.74 points to trade at 54.03 in late trade. Total SA (PA:TOTF) declined 1.13% or 0.54 points to end at 47.16 and Renault SA (PA:RENA) shed 0.90% or 0.78 points to 85.65.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Air France KLM SA (PA:AIRF) which rose 4.59% to 7.176, Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which was up 4.58% to settle at 5.662 and Alten (PA:LTEN) which gained 4.57% to close at 67.52.
The worst performers were Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which was down 7.92% to 7.92 in late trade, Nexity (PA:NEXI) which lost 1.61% to settle at 44.40 and Europcar Groupe SA (PA:EUCAR) which was down 1.42% to 10.04 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 334 to 268 and 104 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 3.41% to 14.78.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.60% or 7.35 to $1208.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 3.58% or 1.90 to hit $51.24 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.25% or 1.82 to trade at $54.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.20% to 1.0545, while EUR/GBP rose 0.16% to 0.8675.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.29% at 102.11.