Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 declined 0.36%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Bouygues SA (PA:BOUY), which rose 1.28% or 0.34 points to trade at 26.94 at the close. AXA SA (PA:AXAF) added 1.26% or 0.23 points to end at 18.50 and Credit Agricole SA (PA:CAGR) was up 0.86% or 0.071 points to 8.284 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA), which lost 3.47% or 0.205 points to trade at 5.695 in late trade. Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) declined 2.52% or 1.84 points to end at 71.21 and Renault SA (PA:RENA) shed 1.63% or 1.26 points to 75.88.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 10.36% to 3.877, Europcar Groupe SA (PA:EUCAR) which was up 3.08% to settle at 7.79 and Natixis (PA:CNAT) which gained 2.72% to close at 3.813.
The worst performers were ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA) which was down 3.47% to 5.695 in late trade, Numericable SFR SA (PA:SFRGR) which lost 2.62% to settle at 22.300 and Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) which was down 2.52% to 71.21 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 347 to 296 and 124 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 4.83% to 18.15.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.37% or 5.05 to $1351.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.73% or 0.74 to hit $42.03 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.47% or 0.66 to trade at $44.32 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.53% to 1.1174, while EUR/GBP rose 0.43% to 0.8588.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.48% at 95.60.