Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.30% to hit a new 3-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP), which rose 1.83% or 1.23 points to trade at 68.53 at the close. ArcelorMittal SA (AS:MT) added 1.26% or 0.285 points to end at 22.985 and AXA SA (PA:AXAF) was up 1.23% or 0.32 points to 25.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Valeo SA (PA:VLOF), which lost 1.14% or 0.73 points to trade at 63.17 in late trade. Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA:ESSI) declined 1.12% or 1.20 points to end at 105.50 and Sodexo (PA:EXHO) shed 0.85% or 0.90 points to 104.85.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which rose 3.29% to 10.52, Ubisoft Entertainment (PA:UBIP) which was up 2.19% to settle at 61.660 and Neopost (PA:NPOS) which gained 1.87% to close at 34.41.
The worst performers were Rexel (PA:RXL) which was down 2.92% to 14.12 in late trade, Gemalto (AS:GTO) which lost 2.32% to settle at 35.65 and SES (PA:SESFd) which was down 2.29% to 18.16 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 302 to 293 and 98 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.28% to 11.46.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.06% or 0.81 to $1275.99 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.80% or 0.90 to hit $50.88 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 2.19% or 1.22 to trade at $57.02 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.43% to 1.1710, while EUR/GBP rose 0.42% to 0.8917.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 93.73.