France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.53%

Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.53% to hit a new 1-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.51%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ), which rose 3.49% or 0.705 points to trade at 20.900 at the close. Kering SA (PA: PRTP ) added 1.99% or 8.70 points to end at 446.20 and Publicis Groupe SA (PA: PUBP ) was up 1.88% or 1.00 points to 54.30 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Societe Generale SA (PA: SOGN ), which lost 2.41% or 0.66 points to trade at 26.48 in late trade. Capgemini SE (PA: CAPP ) declined 1.14% or 1.10 points to end at 95.38 and Renault SA (PA: RENA ) shed 0.71% or 0.44 points to 61.41.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Maisons du Monde SAS (PA: MDM ) which rose 6.74% to 24.060, JC Decaux SA (PA: JCDX ) which was up 5.49% to settle at 27.30 and Metropole TV (PA: MMTP ) which gained 4.19% to close at 13.91.

The worst performers were Orpea (PA: ORP ) which was down 2.61% to 84.44 in late trade, Societe Generale SA (PA: SOGN ) which lost 2.41% to settle at 26.48 and Korian Medica SA (PA: KORI ) which was down 2.32% to 30.360 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 323 to 251 and 88 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 8.04% to 13.78 a new 3-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.22% or 2.95 to $1322.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.29% or 1.23 to hit $55.02 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 2.51% or 1.53 to trade at $62.37 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.25% to 1.1473, while EUR/GBP rose 0.42% to 0.8766.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.238.