France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.66%

Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities , Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.66% to hit a new 6-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.69%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Atos SE (PA: ATOS ), which rose 6.51% or 5.48 points to trade at 89.60 at the close. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (PA: LVMH ) added 4.61% or 15.20 points to end at 344.95 and Valeo SA (PA: VLOF ) was up 3.35% or 0.95 points to 29.29 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Engie SA (PA: ENGIE ), which lost 1.69% or 0.23 points to trade at 13.38 in late trade. Sanofi SA (PA: SASY ) declined 1.05% or 0.82 points to end at 77.14 and L’Oreal SA (PA: OREP ) shed 0.95% or 2.30 points to 240.20.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Atos SE (PA: ATOS ) which rose 6.51% to 89.60, Worldline SA (PA: WLN ) which was up 5.60% to settle at 55.600 and Faurecia (PA: EPED ) which gained 5.08% to close at 44.44.

The worst performers were CGG SA (PA: GEPH ) which was down 2.56% to 1.753 in late trade, BIC (PA: BICP ) which lost 2.03% to settle at 77.25 and Ipsos (PA: ISOS ) which was down 1.74% to 22.60 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 343 to 216 and 108 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 12.90% to 12.65 a new 6-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.40% or 18.35 to $1295.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.38% or 0.89 to hit $63.72 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.06% or 0.76 to trade at $70.97 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.1255, while EUR/GBP rose 0.11% to 0.8619.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.26% at 96.808.