France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.31%

Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Foods & Drugs , Gas & Water and General Financial sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.31% to hit a new 1-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.21%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were TechnipFMC PLC (PA: FTI ), which rose 3.35% or 0.71 points to trade at 21.89 at the close. STMicroelectronics NV (PA: STM ) added 2.40% or 0.355 points to end at 15.170 and Capgemini SE (PA: CAPP ) was up 1.48% or 1.50 points to 103.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Credit Agricole SA (PA: CAGR ), which lost 2.93% or 0.315 points to trade at 10.435 in late trade. Publicis Groupe SA (PA: PUBP ) declined 2.48% or 1.26 points to end at 49.46 and Carrefour SA (PA: CARR ) shed 2.41% or 0.41 points to 16.79.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA: VLLP ) which rose 6.82% to 2.442, CGG SA (PA: GEPH ) which was up 4.25% to settle at 1.694 and TechnipFMC PLC (PA: FTI ) which gained 3.35% to close at 21.89.

The worst performers were Natixis (PA: CNAT ) which was down 11.76% to 3.480 in late trade, Air France KLM SA (PA: AIRF ) which lost 4.38% to settle at 7.550 and Casino Guichard Perrachon SA (PA: CASP ) which was down 3.65% to 31.70 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 299 to 266 and 92 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.22% to 13.68.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 3.18% or 42.95 to $1391.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 5.34% or 2.88 to hit $56.85 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 3.83% or 2.37 to trade at $64.19 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.61% to 1.1293, while EUR/GBP rose 0.12% to 0.8889.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 96.172.