Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.72%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Accor SA (PA:ACCP), which rose 2.20% or 0.77 points to trade at 35.51 at the close. ArcelorMittal SA (AS:ISPA) added 1.74% or 0.130 points to end at 7.580 and Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (PA:MICP) was up 1.16% or 1.20 points to 104.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Veolia Environnement VE SA (PA:VIE), which lost 2.74% or 0.440 points to trade at 15.600 in late trade. Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) declined 2.61% or 2.02 points to end at 75.45 and Vivendi SA (PA:VIV) shed 2.53% or 0.47 points to 18.08.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Lagardere S.C.A. (PA:LAGA) which rose 3.81% to 25.75, Accor SA (PA:ACCP) which was up 2.20% to settle at 35.51 and Gemalto (AS:GTO) which gained 2.00% to close at 54.54.
The worst performers were Genfit (PA:GNFT) which was down 3.30% to 20.970 in late trade, Veolia Environnement VE SA (PA:VIE) which lost 2.74% to settle at 15.600 and Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) which was down 2.61% to 75.45 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 301 to 271 and 98 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.76% to 16.07.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.57% or 6.55 to $1165.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 2.02% or 1.07 to hit $51.91 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.69% or 0.94 to trade at $54.78 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.40% to 1.0667, while EUR/GBP rose 0.01% to 0.8395.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 100.78.