Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the CAC Utilities, CAC Basic Materials and CAC Gas Water sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 1.56%, while the SBF 120 index lost 1.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Carrefour (PARIS:CARR), which rose 2.25% or 0.57 points to trade at 25.95 at the close. Veolia Environnement (PARIS:VIE) added 0.07% or 0.010 points to end at 15.220 and Unibail-Rodamco (AMS:UNBP) was unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 points to 224.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included EDF (PARIS:EDF), which lost 5.81% or 1.31 points to trade at 21.25 in late trade. Arcelormittal (AMS:ISPA) declined 5.79% or 0.49 points to end at 8.01 and GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) shed 3.33% or 0.62 points to 18.01.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were AB Science (PARIS:ABS) which rose 12.08% to 14.750, Biomerieux (PARIS:BIOX) which was up 4.05% to settle at 90.20 and Carrefour (PARIS:CARR) which gained 2.25% to close at 25.95.
The worst performers were Aperam (AMS:APAM) which was down 7.64% to 22.18 in late trade, EDF (PARIS:EDF) which lost 5.81% to settle at 21.25 and Arcelormittal (AMS:ISPA) which was down 5.79% to 8.01 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 600 to 280 and 71 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 3.40% to 27.50.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.34% or 4.20 to $1238.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in February rose 0.41% or 0.19 to hit $46.08 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract fell 0.83% or 0.40 to trade at $47.42 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.16% to 1.1791, while EUR/GBP fell 0.28% to 0.7744.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.25% at 92.21.