Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.29%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Sanofi SA (PA:SASY), which rose 1.63% or 1.14 points to trade at 71.17 at the close. Sodexo (PA:EXHO) added 1.44% or 1.36 points to end at 95.74 and Safran SA (PA:SAF) was up 1.01% or 0.61 points to 61.03 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bouygues SA (PA:BOUY), which lost 2.21% or 0.62 points to trade at 27.38 in late trade. Orange SA (PA:ORAN) declined 1.35% or 0.20 points to end at 14.24 and Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) shed 0.73% or 0.10 points to 13.66.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Ingenico Group (PA:INGC) which rose 1.75% to 101.80, Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) which was up 1.63% to settle at 71.17 and CNP Assurances (PA:CNPP) which gained 1.58% to close at 14.440.
The worst performers were Genfit (PA:GNFT) which was down 3.02% to 23.300 in late trade, Bouygues SA (PA:BOUY) which lost 2.21% to settle at 27.38 and GTT (PA:GTT) which was down 1.90% to 28.89 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 348 to 297 and 103 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 6.22% to 34.11.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.12% or 1.55 to $1270.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.30% or 0.65 to hit $49.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.32% or 0.67 to trade at $49.95 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.67% to 1.1316, while EUR/GBP rose 0.27% to 0.7693.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.51% at 93.68.