Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 8.04% to hit a new 3-month low, while the SBF 120 index declined 7.62%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Pernod Ricard SA (PA:PERP), which fell 1.52% or 1.47 points to trade at 95.17 at the close. Sodexo (PA:EXHO) fell 2.63% or 2.54 points to end at 94.00 and Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) was down 2.79% or 3.30 points to 115.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Societe Generale (PA:SOGN), which lost 20.57% or 7.46 points to trade at 28.80 in late trade. Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) declined 18.17% or 2.60 points to end at 11.71 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) shed 17.40% or 8.30 points to 39.40.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Biomerieux (PA:BIOX) which rose 0.73% to 117.70, Eutelsat Communications (PA:ETL) which was up 0.24% to settle at 16.86 and Saft (PA:S1A) which unchanged 0.00% to close at 36.50.
The worst performers were Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) which was down 20.57% to 28.80 in late trade, Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) which lost 18.17% to settle at 11.71 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) which was down 17.40% to 39.40 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 654 to 67 and 47 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 13.99% to 31.24.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 4.48% or 56.65 to $1319.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.77% or 2.39 to hit $47.72 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 4.79% or 2.44 to trade at $48.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 2.29% to 1.1122, while EUR/GBP rose 6.52% to 0.8150.
The US Dollar Index was up 2.38% at 95.55.