France stocks higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 1.21%

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

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 1.21% to hit a new 52-week high, while the SBF 120 index gained 1.11%.

The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Carrefour SA (EPA:CARR), which rose 8.50% or 1.39 points to trade at 17.82 at the close. Meanwhile, Kering SA (EPA:PRTP) added 3.03% or 17.00 points to end at 578.40 and Bouygues SA (EPA:BOUY) was up 2.66% or 0.82 points to 31.68 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were WFD Unibail Rodamco NV (AS:URW), which fell 1.14% or 0.69 points to trade at 60.06 at the close. BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNPP) declined 0.28% or 0.18 points to end at 64.20 and AXA SA (EPA:AXAF) was down 0.23% or 0.07 points to 28.16.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Carrefour SA (EPA:CARR) which rose 8.50% to 17.82, Television Francaise 1 SA (EPA:TFFP) which was up 5.34% to settle at 7.60 and Faurecia (EPA:EPED) which gained 3.95% to close at 19.07.

The worst performers were BIC (EPA:BICP) which was down 9.80% to 60.75 in late trade, La Francaise Des Jeux Sa (EPA:FDJ) which lost 5.41% to settle at 36.40 and Orpea SA (EPA:ORP) which was down 3.66% to 2.84 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 319 to 222 and 96 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 April delivery was down 1.08% or 20.15 to $1,845.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.28% or 1.01 to hit $78.05 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.97% or 0.83 to trade at $84.75 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.63% to 1.07, while EUR/GBP rose 0.75% to 0.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.82% at 103.96.