Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Goods and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 1.04% to hit a new 3-month high, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.94%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were STMicroelectronics NV (PA:STM), which rose 4.99% or 0.695 points to trade at 14.620 at the close. Atos SE (PA:ATOS) added 3.25% or 2.72 points to end at 86.40 and Valeo SA (PA:VLOF) was up 2.98% or 0.79 points to 27.34 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Carrefour SA (PA:CARR), which lost 1.28% or 0.22 points to trade at 16.93 in late trade. Publicis Groupe SA (PA:PUBP) declined 0.28% or 0.14 points to end at 50.36 and TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) shed 0.15% or 0.03 points to 20.42.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were STMicroelectronics NV (PA:STM) which rose 4.99% to 14.620, Korian Medica SA (PA:KORI) which was up 3.96% to settle at 36.260 and Elior Group (PA:ELIOR) which gained 3.88% to close at 13.11.
The worst performers were Casino Guichard Perrachon SA (PA:CASP) which was down 6.54% to 40.99 in late trade, Mercialys SA (PA:MERY) which lost 3.23% to settle at 12.60 and Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which was down 2.99% to 2.174 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 343 to 234 and 90 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.35% to 13.03.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.54% or 7.05 to $1302.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.29% or 0.17 to hit $58.44 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.20 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.15% to 1.1320, while EUR/GBP fell 0.11% to 0.8525.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 96.585.