Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 1.52% to hit a new 6-months high, while the SBF 120 index climbed 1.46%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Legrand SA (EPA:LEGD), which rose 9.02% or 8.80 points to trade at 106.40 at the close. Meanwhile, EssilorLuxottica SA (EPA:ESLX) added 7.17% or 19.80 points to end at 295.80 and Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (EPA:MICP) was up 4.86% or 1.58 points to 34.06 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (EPA:URW), which fell 4.08% or 3.36 points to trade at 78.94 at the close. Societe Generale SA (EPA:SOGN) declined 1.70% or 0.64 points to end at 36.73 and BNP Paribas SA (EPA:BNPP) was down 1.18% or 0.84 points to 70.10.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Lectra SA (EPA:LECS) which rose 12.31% to 29.20, Forvia (EPA:FRVIA) which was up 10.75% to settle at 11.18 and Valeo SA (EPA:VLOF) which gained 9.07% to close at 11.55.
The worst performers were Technip Energies BV (EPA:TE) which was down 5.79% to 27.00 in late trade, Vallourec (EPA:VLLP) which lost 5.22% to settle at 18.80 and Ipsen SA (EPA:IPN) which was down 5.13% to 112.90 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 291 to 210 and 83 ended unchanged.
Shares in EssilorLuxottica SA (EPA:ESLX) rose to all time highs; up 7.17% or 19.80 to 295.80.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was unchanged 0.00% to 18.96 a new 52-week high.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.51% or 15.01 to $2,943.71 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.06% or 0.04 to hit $71.41 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.07 to trade at $75.11 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.44% to 1.04, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.17% to 0.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.50% at 107.29.