Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology Hardware & Equipment Financial, Foods & Drugs and Pharmaceuticals & Biotech sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.60% to hit a new 5-year high, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA), which rose 4.82% or 0.176 points to trade at 3.826 at the close. Technip (PARIS:TECF) added 2.15% or 1.29 points to end at 61.18 and Carrefour (PARIS:CARR) was up 2.04% or 0.66 points to 32.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saint Gobain (PARIS:SGOB), which lost 2.42% or 1.04 points to trade at 42.02 in late trade. Kering (PARIS:PRTP) declined 1.56% or 2.80 points to end at 176.50 and Lafarge (PARIS:LAFP) shed 1.19% or 0.76 points to 63.01.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA) which rose 4.82% to 3.826, Tarkett (PARIS:TKTT) which was up 4.63% to settle at 24.05 and Technicolor (PARIS:TCH) which gained 3.30% to close at 6.259.
The worst performers were Eramet (PARIS:ERMT) which was down 3.49% to 79.01 in late trade, Saint Gobain (PARIS:SGOB) which lost 2.42% to settle at 42.02 and Nexans (PARIS:NEXS) which was down 1.95% to 32.36 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 590 to 337 and 48 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 3.55% to 15.88 a new 3-month .
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.05% or 12.50 to $1206.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.52% or 0.77 to hit $51.56 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.76% or 0.99 to trade at $57.56 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.61% to 1.0593, while EUR/GBP fell 0.10% to 0.7238.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.47% at 99.72.