Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Oil & Gas Producers sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.81%, while the SBF 120 index added 0.74%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Sanofi SA (PA:SASY), which rose 3.46% or 2.50 points to trade at 74.76 at the close. Technip (PA:TECF) added 2.45% or 1.13 points to end at 47.23 and Nokia Oyj (PA:NOKIA) was up 1.60% or 0.081 points to 5.148 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP), which lost 2.17% or 0.30 points to trade at 13.42 in late trade. Accor SA (PA:ACCP) declined 1.81% or 0.66 points to end at 35.74 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) shed 1.77% or 0.76 points to 41.80.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 6.73% to 5.92, Biomerieux (PA:BIOX) which was up 5.86% to settle at 108.45 and CGG (PA:GEPH) which gained 4.92% to close at 0.64.
The worst performers were Air France KLM SA (PA:AIRF) which was down 3.23% to 7.904 in late trade, Vicat (PA:VCTP) which lost 2.57% to settle at 55.46 and Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) which was down 2.17% to 13.42 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 359 to 293 and 105 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.87% to 23.62.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.38% or 4.70 to $1224.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 5.15% or 1.85 to hit $37.74 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 5.20% or 1.97 to trade at $39.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.34% to 1.1423, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.8072.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 94.33.