Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.44%, while the SBF 120 index added 0.49%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Alstom SA (PA:ALSO), which rose 3.88% or 0.89 points to trade at 23.70 at the close. Safran SA (PA:SAF) added 3.59% or 2.11 points to end at 60.85 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) was up 3.07% or 1.18 points to 39.59 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orange SA (PA:ORAN), which lost 1.86% or 0.29 points to trade at 15.53 in late trade. Technip (PA:TECF) declined 1.79% or 0.93 points to end at 51.03 and Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) shed 1.26% or 0.90 points to 70.73.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which rose 10.57% to 10.79, Maurel Et Prom (PA:MAUP) which was up 7.34% to settle at 3.51 and Zodiac Aerospace (PA:ZODC) which gained 5.63% to close at 18.85.
The worst performers were JC Decaux SA (PA:JCDX) which was down 2.12% to 37.96 in late trade, Orange SA (PA:ORAN) which lost 1.86% to settle at 15.53 and Euronext (PA:ENX) which was down 1.86% to 37.65 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 410 to 247 and 99 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 9.80% to 19.20 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.85% or 10.80 to $1254.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $40.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.72% or 0.30 to trade at $41.24 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.38% to 1.1273, while EUR/GBP fell 0.44% to 0.7781.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 95.05.