Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Health Care and Software sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.15%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Technip (PARIS:TECF), which rose 3.68% or 1.98 points to trade at 55.80 at the close. Sanofi (PARIS:SASY) added 3.60% or 2.94 points to end at 84.53 and Vinci SA (PARIS:SGEF) was up 2.68% or 1.29 points to 49.62 in late trade.
Biggest losers included BNP Paribas Act. A (PARIS:BNPP), which lost 3.69% or 1.80 points to trade at 47.01 in late trade. GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) declined 2.35% or 0.46 points to end at 19.14 and Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) shed 1.98% or 0.65 points to 32.00.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Dassault Systemes (PARIS:DAST) which rose 7.98% to 59.14, Maurel Et Prom (PARIS:MAUP) which was up 3.74% to settle at 8.23 and Technip (PARIS:TECF) which gained 3.68% to close at 55.80.
The worst performers were BNP Paribas Act. A (PARIS:BNPP) which was down 3.69% to 47.01 in late trade, GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) which lost 2.35% to settle at 19.14 and Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) which was down 1.98% to 32.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 576 to 325 and 53 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 2.38% to 20.47.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.12% or 1.50 to $1263.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 6.23% or 3.02 to hit $51.47 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 5.59% or 3.02 to trade at $57.19 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.88% to 1.1443, while EUR/GBP rose 0.15% to 0.7483.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.74% at 93.88.