Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.44%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP), which rose 2.31% or 0.42 points to trade at 18.61 at the close. Sodexo (PA:EXHO) added 1.51% or 1.50 points to end at 101.10 and Publicis Groupe SA (PA:PUBP) was up 1.27% or 0.78 points to 62.04 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Solvay SA (BR:SOLB), which lost 3.54% or 4.15 points to trade at 113.10 in late trade. TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) declined 2.12% or 0.52 points to end at 23.98 and Valeo SA (PA:VLOF) shed 1.94% or 1.06 points to 53.46.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were SES (PA:SESFd) which rose 5.85% to 13.25, Eutelsat Communications (PA:ETL) which was up 3.38% to settle at 19.18 and Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) which gained 2.31% to close at 18.61.
The worst performers were Biomerieux SA (PA:BIOX) which was down 10.35% to 63.20 in late trade, Solvay SA (BR:SOLB) which lost 3.54% to settle at 113.10 and Casino Guichard (PA:CASP) which was down 3.36% to 44.62 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 364 to 216 and 100 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.84% to 16.36.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.20% or 2.70 to $1321.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.16% or 0.73 to hit $62.28 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.43% or 0.95 to trade at $65.57 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.19% to 1.2210, while EUR/GBP rose 0.74% to 0.8860.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 90.50.