Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Goods, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.20%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Schneider Electric SE (PA:SCHN), which rose 4.66% or 2.63 points to trade at 59.10 at the close. Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) added 2.60% or 2.90 points to end at 114.65 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) was up 1.76% or 0.82 points to 47.64 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA), which lost 5.07% or 0.27 points to trade at 5.06 in late trade. Pernod Ricard SA (PA:PERP) declined 4.87% or 5.05 points to end at 98.65 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) shed 2.65% or 1.22 points to 44.84.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 11.40% to 4.21, Biomerieux (PA:BIOX) which was up 8.51% to settle at 116.65 and Atos SE (PA:ATOS) which gained 6.03% to close at 79.32.
The worst performers were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA) which was down 5.07% to 5.06 in late trade, Pernod Ricard SA (PA:PERP) which lost 4.87% to settle at 98.65 and Dassault Systemes (PA:DAST) which was down 4.15% to 69.93 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 385 to 274 and 108 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 0.43% to 19.28 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.20% or 2.50 to $1251.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.91% or 0.40 to hit $43.78 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.14% or 0.52 to trade at $45.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1298, while EUR/GBP rose 0.09% to 0.7887.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 94.53.