Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the General Financial, Automobiles & Parts and Banks sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.07%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Valeo (PARIS:VLOF), which rose 2.80% or 3.80 points to trade at 139.45 at the close. BNP Paribas Act. A (PARIS:BNPP) added 1.36% or 0.71 points to end at 52.96 and Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) was up 1.33% or 0.56 points to 42.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Arcelormittal (AMS:ISPA), which lost 1.45% or 0.14 points to trade at 9.27 in late trade. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (PARIS:LVMH) declined 1.43% or 2.45 points to end at 168.30 and Kering (PARIS:PRTP) shed 1.40% or 2.75 points to 194.25.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Genfit (PARIS:GNFT) which rose 5.14% to 55.000, Sopra Steria Group SA (PARIS:SOPR) which was up 4.39% to settle at 74.95 and Technicolor (PARIS:TCH) which gained 3.70% to close at 5.880.
The worst performers were Biomerieux (PARIS:BIOX) which was down 4.20% to 89.78 in late trade, Numericable Pr (PARIS:NUME) which lost 3.73% to settle at 52.460 and Montupet SA (PARIS:MNTP) which was down 3.23% to 66.600 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 492 to 425 and 61 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.28% to 17.74.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 1.52% or 17.50 to $1168.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in May fell 3.34% or 1.56 to hit $45.09 a barrel, while the May Brent Oil contract fell 3.28% or 1.83 to trade at $54.08 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 2.15% to 1.0634, while EUR/GBP fell 0.43% to 0.7223.
The US Dollar Index was up 2.28% at 99.60.