France shares lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 1.38%

Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Materials , Technology and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 fell 1.38%, while the SBF 120 index fell 1.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Carrefour SA (PA: CARR ), which rose 0.53% or 0.09 points to trade at 16.94 at the close. Pernod Ricard SA (PA: PERP ) added 0.26% or 0.35 points to end at 133.60 and Unibail Rodamco SE (AS: UNBP ) was down 0.16% or 0.30 points to 189.70 in late trade.

Biggest losers included STMicroelectronics NV (PA: STM ), which lost 4.57% or 0.930 points to trade at 19.410 in late trade. ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ) declined 3.84% or 1.045 points to end at 26.175 and TechnipFMC PLC (PA: FTI ) shed 3.75% or 0.94 points to 24.11.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were DBV Technologies (PA: DBV ) which rose 3.75% to 37.100, JC Decaux SA (PA: JCDX ) which was up 1.41% to settle at 28.72 and Fonciere des Regions (PA: FDR ) which gained 0.79% to close at 89.20.

The worst performers were Wendel (PA: MWDP ) which was down 9.59% to 130.10 in late trade, STMicroelectronics NV (PA: STM ) which lost 4.57% to settle at 19.410 and Vallourec (PA: VLLP ) which was down 4.50% to 4.540 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 456 to 119 and 83 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 20.73% to 16.73.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.45% or 6.00 to $1327.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.15% or 0.75 to hit $64.42 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.68% or 0.47 to trade at $69.00 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.26% to 1.2306, while EUR/GBP fell 0.06% to 0.8720.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 89.46.