Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Aerospace & Defense, Pharmaceuticals & Biotech and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 3.19% to hit a new 1-month low, while the SBF 120 index lost 3.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Technip (PARIS:TECF), which fell 0.91% or 0.42 points to trade at 46.26 at the close. Publicis Groupe SA (PARIS:PUBP) fell 1.01% or 0.63 points to end at 61.81 and Valeo SA (PARIS:VLOF) was down 1.33% or 1.45 points to 107.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Lafargeholcim Ltd (PARIS:LHN), which lost 4.64% or 2.72 points to trade at 55.91 in late trade. Essilor International Compagnie Generale d`Optique SA (PARIS:ESSI) declined 4.62% or 5.05 points to end at 104.30 and Peugeot SA (PARIS:PEUP) shed 4.60% or 0.74 points to 15.46.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Maurel Et Prom (PARIS:MAUP) which rose 1.56% to 4.61, Mercialys (PARIS:MERY) which was up 1.17% to settle at 21.14 and Ipsos (PARIS:ISOS) which gained 0.96% to close at 20.95.
The worst performers were Ingenico Group (PARIS:INGC) which was down 6.23% to 116.55 in late trade, Adocia (PARIS:ADOC) which lost 5.39% to settle at 79.000 and Natixis (PARIS:CNAT) which was down 5.29% to 5.573 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 694 to 119 and 50 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 17.43% to 28.15 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.55% or 6.30 to $1159.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2.59% or 1.07 to hit $40.25 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 2.43% or 1.14 to trade at $45.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.12% to 1.1366, while EUR/GBP rose 1.06% to 0.7240.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.89% at 94.92.