France stocks higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.79%

Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil&Gas, Technology and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.79%, while the SBF 120 index unchanged 0.00%.

The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were AXA SA (EPA:AXAF), which rose 2.67% or 0.71 points to trade at 27.34 at the close. Meanwhile, Sanofi SA (EPA:SASY) added 2.43% or 2.33 points to end at 98.26 and Kering SA (EPA:PRTP) was up 2.07% or 11.00 points to 541.40 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Dassault Systemes SE (EPA:DAST), which fell 1.61% or 0.67 points to trade at 40.70 at the close. STMicroelectronics NV (EPA:STMPA) declined 1.51% or 0.71 points to end at 46.23 and Worldline SA (EPA:WLN) was down 1.39% or 0.48 points to 33.98.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Casino Guichard Perrachon SA (EPA:CASP) which rose 11.46% to 3.48, AXA SA (EPA:AXAF) which was up 2.67% to settle at 27.34 and Voltalia SA (EPA:VLTSA) which gained 2.49% to close at 15.62.

The worst performers were Soitec SA (EPA:SOIT) which was down 3.70% to 165.20 in late trade, Euroapi SAS (EPA:EAPI) which lost 2.89% to settle at 10.59 and Nexans SA (EPA:NEXS) which was down 2.71% to 80.90 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 271 to 240 and 105 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 August delivery was down 0.52% or 10.30 to $1,970.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.61% or 0.46 to hit $75.75 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.39% or 0.31 to trade at $79.77 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.66% to 1.11, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.03% to 0.87.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.65% at 100.64.