Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banks, Automobiles & Parts and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.95% to hit a new 5-year high, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.98%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Credit Agricole (PARIS:CAGR), which rose 7.60% or 0.910 points to trade at 12.885 at the close. Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) added 4.01% or 1.54 points to end at 40.05 and Technip (PARIS:TECF) was up 3.15% or 1.82 points to 59.59 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orange SA (PARIS:ORAN), which lost 3.95% or 0.64 points to trade at 15.44 in late trade. Pernod Ricard (PARIS:PERP) declined 1.21% or 1.25 points to end at 102.35 and Unibail-Rodamco (AMS:UNBP) shed 1.21% or 3.10 points to 253.10.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Metropole TV (PARIS:MMTP) which rose 7.61% to 17.95, Credit Agricole (PARIS:CAGR) which was up 7.60% to settle at 12.885 and Peugeot SA (PARIS:PEUP) which gained 6.71% to close at 14.40.
The worst performers were Coface (PARIS:COFA) which was down 4.75% to 11.24 in late trade, Orange SA (PARIS:ORAN) which lost 3.95% to settle at 15.44 and Nexans (PARIS:NEXS) which was down 2.04% to 33.64 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 575 to 336 and 44 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 6.76% to 20.79.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.76% or 9.20 to $1199.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 2.03% or 1.10 to hit $53.19 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 2.07% or 1.29 to trade at $61.23 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.63% to 1.1340, while EUR/GBP fell 1.10% to 0.7350.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.46% at 94.58.