Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.22%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (PA:MICP), which rose 2.85% or 2.49 points to trade at 89.93 at the close. Safran SA (PA:SAF) added 2.71% or 1.56 points to end at 59.15 and Technip (PA:TECF) was up 2.52% or 1.23 points to 49.98 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Essilor International Compagnie Generale d`Optique SA (PA:ESSI), which lost 2.09% or 2.35 points to trade at 110.00 in late trade. BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) declined 2.05% or 0.96 points to end at 46.05 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) shed 1.66% or 0.64 points to 37.73.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Television Francaise 1 SA (PA:TFFP) which rose 3.64% to 11.400, Faurecia (PA:EPED) which was up 3.58% to settle at 33.59 and Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (PA:MICP) which gained 2.85% to close at 89.93.
The worst performers were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which was down 14.02% to 6.17 in late trade, Orpea (PA:ORP) which lost 4.84% to settle at 72.38 and Zodiac Aerospace (PA:ZODC) which was down 3.41% to 17.15 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 350 to 323 and 103 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 1.53% to 22.16.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.08% or 1.00 to $1230.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 4.05% or 1.47 to hit $37.81 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.10% or 1.20 to trade at $39.94 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.31% to 1.1074, while EUR/GBP rose 0.11% to 0.7860.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 96.95.