France stocks higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.52%

Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.52%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.57%.

The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Edenred SA (EPA:EDEN), which rose 4.87% or 2.18 points to trade at 46.94 at the close. Meanwhile, Schneider Electric SE (EPA:SCHN) added 2.79% or 5.85 points to end at 215.35 and Veolia Environnement VE SA (EPA:VIE) was up 2.47% or 0.69 points to 28.63 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were STMicroelectronics NV (EPA:STMPA), which fell 1.22% or 0.47 points to trade at 37.58 at the close. Thales (EPA:TCFP) declined 1.18% or 1.85 points to end at 155.25 and Sanofi SA (EPA:SASY) was down 1.10% or 0.95 points to 85.23.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Orpea SA (EPA:ORP) which rose 11.83% to 12.49, Forvia (EPA:FRVIA) which was up 7.94% to settle at 14.62 and Alstom SA (EPA:ALSO) which gained 5.67% to close at 15.10.

The worst performers were Sartorius Stedim Biotech SA (EPA:STDM) which was down 15.69% to 209.60 in late trade, Worldline SA (EPA:WLN) which lost 5.31% to settle at 10.17 and La Francaise Des Jeux Sa (EPA:FDJ) which was down 4.04% to 35.18 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 261 to 237 and 98 ended unchanged.

The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 18.96 a new 52-week high.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.40% or 9.65 to $2,398.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.06% or 0.05 to hit $82.64 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.31% or 0.27 to trade at $87.02 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 1.07, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.21% to 0.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 105.86.