Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Aerospace & Defense, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 1.94%, while the SBF 120 index lost 1.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Engie SA (PA:ENGIE), which rose 1.51% or 0.24 points to trade at 16.11 at the close. Cap Gemini SA (PA:CAPP) added 0.02% or 0.02 points to end at 81.66 and Alcatel Lucent SA (PA:ALUA) was down 0.27% or 0.010 points to 3.740 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA), which lost 6.24% or 0.31 points to trade at 4.61 in late trade. Airbus Group SE (PA:AIR) declined 3.74% or 2.49 points to end at 64.06 and Safran SA (PA:SAF) shed 3.45% or 2.43 points to 68.00.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Iliad (PA:ILD) which rose 2.68% to 201.05, Ubisoft Entertainment (PA:UBIP) which was up 2.04% to settle at 26.515 and Engie SA (PA:ENGIE) which gained 1.51% to close at 16.11.
The worst performers were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA) which was down 6.24% to 4.61 in late trade, Eurazeo (PA:EURA) which lost 5.05% to settle at 62.67 and DBV Technologies (PA:DBV) which was down 4.75% to 65.440 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 517 to 214 and 53 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 9.13% to 22.86.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.43% or 4.70 to $1080.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.77% or 1.19 to hit $41.74 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 2.52% or 1.18 to trade at $45.44 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.49% to 1.0796, while EUR/GBP rose 0.46% to 0.7094.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.34% at 98.72.