Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Foods & Drugs, Gas & Water and General Financial sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 4.47%, while the SBF 120 index added 4.05%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Safran SA (PA:SAF), which rose 18.85% or 13.00 points to trade at 81.98 at the close. Meanwhile, Societe Generale SA (PA:SOGN) added 11.44% or 1.78 points to end at 17.30 and Atos SE (PA:ATOS) was up 10.39% or 5.90 points to 62.66 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were WFD Unibail Rodamco NV (AS:URW), which fell 12.15% or 8.02 points to trade at 57.98 at the close. Dassault Systemes SE (PA:DAST) declined 2.37% or 3.15 points to end at 130.00 and Sodexo SA (PA:EXHO) was down 2.15% or 1.34 points to 61.06.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were CNP Assurances SA (PA:CNPP) which rose 23.22% to 10.19, Safran SA (PA:SAF) which was up 18.85% to settle at 81.98 and Natixis (PA:CNAT) which gained 16.92% to close at 3.13.
The worst performers were WFD Unibail Rodamco NV (AS:URW) which was down 12.15% to 57.98 in late trade, Teleperformance SE (PA:TEPRF) which lost 9.45% to settle at 159.10 and Mercialys SA (PA:MERY) which was down 8.38% to 6.89 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 402 to 187 and 66 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 9.92% to 50.63.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.72% or 28.60 to $1632.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.83% or 0.68 to hit $24.69 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.77% or 0.48 to trade at $27.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.70% to 1.0862, while EUR/GBP rose 0.28% to 0.9199.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.14% at 101.085.