Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banking, Electronic Equipment and Support Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.57%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.51%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Credit Agricole (PARIS:CAGR), which rose 3.11% or 0.425 points to trade at 14.100 at the close. Legrand SA (PARIS:LEGD) added 1.99% or 1.00 points to end at 51.34 and Vinci SA (PARIS:SGEF) was up 1.69% or 0.90 points to 54.13 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Renault SA (PARIS:RENA), which lost 1.65% or 1.40 points to trade at 83.37 in late trade. Arcelormittal (AMS:ISPA) declined 1.28% or 0.11 points to end at 8.66 and Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA) shed 1.11% or 0.039 points to 3.481.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Credit Agricole (PARIS:CAGR) which rose 3.11% to 14.100, Eurazeo (PARIS:EURA) which was up 2.76% to settle at 65.59 and Air France KLM SA (PARIS:AIRF) which gained 2.48% to close at 8.387.
The worst performers were Neopost (PARIS:NPOS) which was down 6.76% to 47.69 in late trade, Vicat (PARIS:VCTP) which lost 2.33% to settle at 66.60 and Dassault Systemes (PARIS:DAST) which was down 2.25% to 61.72 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 505 to 406 and 49 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 2.68% to 19.87 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.88% or 22.30 to $1205.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.94% or 2.35 to hit $49.95 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.67% or 2.02 to trade at $57.13 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.40% to 1.0776, while EUR/GBP rose 0.34% to 0.7268.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 98.39.