Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.50%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP), which rose 3.10% or 0.56 points to trade at 18.65 at the close. Cap Gemini SA (PA:CAPP) added 1.08% or 1.15 points to end at 108.10 and Total SA (PA:TOTF) was up 0.91% or 0.43 points to 47.06 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Valeo SA (PA:VLOF), which lost 1.92% or 1.22 points to trade at 62.28 in late trade. Unibail Rodamco SE (AS:UNBP) declined 1.89% or 3.90 points to end at 202.70 and Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) shed 1.79% or 2.05 points to 112.35.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Dassault Systemes (PA:DAST) which rose 6.59% to 99.00, Ipsos (PA:ISOS) which was up 4.36% to settle at 32.10 and Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) which gained 3.10% to close at 18.65.
The worst performers were BIC (PA:BICP) which was down 9.43% to 83.60 in late trade, Eurofins Scientific (PA:EUFI) which lost 3.62% to settle at 506.00 and Biomerieux SA (PA:BIOX) which was down 3.41% to 73.70 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 292 to 290 and 93 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 5.58% to 15.16 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.21% or 2.80 to $1345.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.14% or 0.74 to hit $65.47 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.75% or 0.52 to trade at $69.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.58% to 1.2485, while EUR/GBP rose 0.17% to 0.8762.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.38% at 88.61.