Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.44%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.49%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Alstom SA (PA:ALSO), which rose 3.88% or 0.89 points to trade at 23.70 at the close. Meanwhile, Safran SA (PA:SAF) added 3.59% or 2.11 points to end at 60.85 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) was up 3.07% or 1.18 points to 39.59 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Orange SA (PA:ORAN), which fell 1.86% or 0.29 points to trade at 15.53 at the close. Technip (PA:TECF) declined 1.79% or 0.93 points to end at 51.03 and Sanofi SA (PA:SASY) was down 1.26% or 0.90 points to 70.73.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which rose 10.57% to 10.79, Maurel Et Prom (PA:MAUP) which was up 7.34% to settle at 3.51 and Zodiac Aerospace (PA:ZODC) which gained 5.63% to close at 18.85.
The worst performers were JC Decaux SA (PA:JCDX) which was down 2.12% to 37.96 in late trade, Orange SA (PA:ORAN) which lost 1.86% to settle at 15.53 and Euronext (PA:ENX) which was down 1.86% to 37.65 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 410 to 247 and 99 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 9.80% to 19.20 a new 6-months low.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.85% or 10.80 to $1254.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $40.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.72% or 0.30 to trade at $41.24 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.38% to 1.1273, while EUR/GBP fell 0.42% to 0.7782.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 95.05.