Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Oil & Gas Producers sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.81%, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.74%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Sanofi SA (PA:SASY), which rose 3.46% or 2.50 points to trade at 74.76 at the close. Meanwhile, Technip (PA:TECF) added 2.45% or 1.13 points to end at 47.23 and Nokia Oyj (PA:NOKIA) was up 1.60% or 0.081 points to 5.148 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP), which fell 2.17% or 0.30 points to trade at 13.42 at the close. Accor SA (PA:ACCP) declined 1.81% or 0.66 points to end at 35.74 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) was down 1.77% or 0.76 points to 41.80.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 6.73% to 5.92, Biomerieux (PA:BIOX) which was up 5.86% to settle at 108.45 and CGG (PA:GEPH) which gained 4.92% to close at 0.64.
The worst performers were Air France KLM SA (PA:AIRF) which was down 3.23% to 7.904 in late trade, Vicat (PA:VCTP) which lost 2.57% to settle at 55.46 and Peugeot SA (PA:PEUP) which was down 2.17% to 13.42 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 359 to 293 and 105 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 4.87% to 23.62.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.37% or 4.60 to $1225.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 5.15% or 1.85 to hit $37.74 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 5.20% or 1.97 to trade at $39.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.35% to 1.1424, while EUR/GBP rose 0.41% to 0.8072.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 94.33.