Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 1.36% to hit a new 6-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 1.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA), which rose 4.98% or 0.374 points to trade at 7.883 at the close. Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) added 4.24% or 0.61 points to end at 15.13 and AXA SA (PA:AXAF) was up 4.01% or 0.94 points to 24.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Publicis Groupe SA (PA:PUBP), which lost 2.22% or 1.37 points to trade at 60.24 in late trade. Veolia Environnement VE SA (PA:VIE) declined 1.64% or 0.260 points to end at 15.565 and Airbus Group (PA:AIR) shed 1.38% or 0.82 points to 58.58.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Altran Technologies (PA:ALTT) which rose 6.69% to 12.830, Sopra Steria Group SA (PA:SOPR) which was up 5.55% to settle at 98.52 and Faurecia (PA:EPED) which gained 5.35% to close at 36.23.
The worst performers were Innate Pharma (PA:IPH) which was down 4.00% to 13.440 in late trade, Genfit (PA:GNFT) which lost 3.20% to settle at 21.905 and Worldline SA (PA:WLN) which was down 2.99% to 23.505 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 461 to 243 and 97 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 2.72% to 16.16 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.72% or 8.45 to $1178.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.53% or 0.78 to hit $50.15 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.09% or 0.59 to trade at $53.34 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.33% to 1.0753, while EUR/GBP rose 0.95% to 0.8532.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.22% at 100.29.