France stocks lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 0.25%

Investing.com – France stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gas&Water, General Financial and Foods&Drugs sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.25%, while the SBF 120 index declined 0.25%.

The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Compagnie de Saint Gobain SA (EPA:SGOB), which rose 2.69% or 1.43 points to trade at 54.52 at the close. Meanwhile, Safran SA (EPA:SAF) added 2.06% or 2.76 points to end at 136.86 and Sanofi SA (EPA:SASY) was up 1.42% or 1.25 points to 89.10 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Renault SA (EPA:RENA), which fell 3.11% or 1.36 points to trade at 42.21 at the close. Teleperformance SE (EPA:TEPRF) declined 2.70% or 7.10 points to end at 255.50 and Dassault Systemes SE (EPA:DAST) was down 2.22% or 0.85 points to 37.45.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Soitec SA (EPA:SOIT) which rose 5.38% to 143.00, Air France KLM SA (EPA:AIRF) which was up 5.32% to settle at 1.76 and Casino Guichard Perrachon SA (EPA:CASP) which gained 4.39% to close at 11.41.

The worst performers were Valneva (EPA:VLS) which was down 9.06% to 5.78 in late trade, Eutelsat Communications SA (EPA:ETL) which lost 8.95% to settle at 6.46 and Orpea SA (EPA:ORP) which was down 6.97% to 2.51 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 311 to 226 and 98 ended unchanged.

Shares in Safran SA (EPA:SAF) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 2.06% or 2.76 to 136.86. Shares in Eutelsat Communications SA (EPA:ETL) fell to all time lows; losing 8.95% or 0.63 to 6.46.

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 0.07% or 1.35 to $1,850.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 3.13% or 2.46 to hit $76.03 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 2.84% or 2.42 to trade at $82.72 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.10% to 1.07, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.06% to 0.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 103.96.