France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.15%

© Reuters. France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.15%

Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.15%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.13%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:MT), which rose 3.10% or 0.565 points to trade at 18.770 at the close. Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) added 2.41% or 2.09 points to end at 88.65 and Schneider Electric SE (PA:SCHN) was up 2.10% or 1.45 points to 70.43 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bouygues SA (PA:BOUY), which lost 1.36% or 0.54 points to trade at 38.90 in late trade. Sodexo (PA:EXHO) declined 1.14% or 1.35 points to end at 117.20 and Danone SA (PA:DANO) shed 0.97% or 0.66 points to 67.65.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 4.14% to 5.557, DBV Technologies (PA:DBV) which was up 3.74% to settle at 64.940 and Euler Hermes (PA:ELER) which gained 3.50% to close at 103.50.

The worst performers were Altran Technologies (PA:ALTT) which was down 5.35% to 15.205 in late trade, Alten (PA:LTEN) which lost 4.65% to settle at 75.25 and STMicroelectronics (PA:STM) which was down 2.44% to 13.420 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 308 to 298 and 96 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 1.30% to 14.08.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.53% or 6.64 to $1252.44 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.58% or 0.67 to hit $43.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.78% or 0.80 to trade at $45.62 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.14% to 1.1152, while EUR/GBP fell 0.11% to 0.8803.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 97.26.