Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gas & Water, Utilities and Pharmaceuticals & Biotech sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.57%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Lafarge (PARIS:LAFP), which rose 0.76% or 0.46 points to trade at 61.04 at the close. Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA) added 0.64% or 0.021 points to end at 3.289 and Vinci SA (PARIS:SGEF) was up 0.38% or 0.20 points to 53.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Technip (PARIS:TECF), which lost 1.86% or 1.03 points to trade at 54.43 in late trade. GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) declined 1.47% or 0.25 points to end at 16.72 and Vivendi (PARIS:VIV) shed 1.35% or 0.31 points to 22.66.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Faurecia (PARIS:EPED) which rose 1.99% to 38.14, Montupet SA (PARIS:MNTP) which was up 1.69% to settle at 66.030 and Havas (PARIS:HAVA) which gained 1.22% to close at 7.490.
The worst performers were Solocal Group (PARIS:LOCAL) which was down 3.40% to 0.426 in late trade, Saft (PARIS:S1A) which lost 2.92% to settle at 34.26 and Maurel Et Prom (PARIS:MAUP) which was down 2.70% to 6.60 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 554 to 236 and 61 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 3.80% to 31.81 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.33% or 3.80 to $1167.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.46% or 1.40 to hit $55.53 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 2.73% or 1.70 to trade at $60.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1098, while EUR/GBP rose 0.37% to 0.7127.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 96.22.