Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Utilities and Technology Hardware & Equipment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.31%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Vivendi (PARIS:VIV), which rose 2.02% or 0.46 points to trade at 22.97 at the close. GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) added 2.00% or 0.36 points to end at 18.64 and Carrefour (PARIS:CARR) was up 1.76% or 0.55 points to 31.81 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Unibail-Rodamco (AMS:UNBP), which lost 1.96% or 4.85 points to trade at 243.05 in late trade. Alstom (PARIS:ALSO) declined 0.74% or 0.21 points to end at 28.35 and Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) shed 0.73% or 0.28 points to 37.92.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Saft (PARIS:S1A) which rose 2.41% to 37.02, Technicolor (PARIS:TCH) which was up 2.06% to settle at 6.049 and Vivendi (PARIS:VIV) which gained 2.02% to close at 22.97.
The worst performers were Genfit (PARIS:GNFT) which was down 4.01% to 38.420 in late trade, Innate Pharma (PARIS:IPH) which lost 3.13% to settle at 14.880 and Casino Guichard (PARIS:CASP) which was down 2.59% to 74.39 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 476 to 420 and 63 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 2.45% to 18.93 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.22% or 2.60 to $1209.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.69% or 0.98 to hit $58.97 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.48% or 0.94 to trade at $64.97 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.51% to 1.1093, while EUR/GBP fell 0.70% to 0.7134.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.33% at 95.68.