France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 1.11%

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

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 1.11% to hit a new 1-month high, while the SBF 120 index gained 1.09%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ), which rose 5.51% or 1.046 points to trade at 20.040 at the close. Renault SA (PA: RENA ) added 4.91% or 2.86 points to end at 61.16 and STMicroelectronics NV (PA: STM ) was up 4.40% or 0.605 points to 14.370 in late trade.

Biggest losers included EssilorLuxottica SA (PA: ESLX ), which lost 0.63% or 0.70 points to trade at 111.15 in late trade. Veolia Environnement VE SA (PA: VIE ) declined 0.61% or 0.110 points to end at 18.065 and Danone SA (PA: DANO ) shed 0.56% or 0.35 points to 62.45.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Eramet (PA: ERMT ) which rose 8.38% to 58.20, Ipsos (PA: ISOS ) which was up 8.08% to settle at 23.00 and Alstom SA (PA: ALSO ) which gained 6.10% to close at 36.37.

The worst performers were BIC (PA: BICP ) which was down 3.13% to 85.25 in late trade, Ipsen (PA: IPN ) which lost 2.27% to settle at 116.05 and Electricite de France SA (PA: EDF ) which was down 1.61% to 14.07 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 374 to 192 and 101 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.23% to 15.07.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.32% or 16.95 to $1296.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.00% or 0.53 to hit $53.66 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.44 to trade at $61.53 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.88% to 1.1404, while EUR/GBP rose 0.16% to 0.8665.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.73% at 95.597.