Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.26%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.25%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Vinci SA (PA:SGEF), which rose 4.68% or 3.05 points to trade at 68.27 at the close. Meanwhile, Veolia Environnement VE SA (PA:VIE) added 3.60% or 0.560 points to end at 16.105 and Danone SA (PA:DANO) was up 2.38% or 1.41 points to 60.65 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Credit Agricole SA (PA:CAGR), which fell 2.27% or 0.265 points to trade at 11.415 at the close. Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) declined 2.07% or 0.91 points to end at 42.73 and BNP Paribas SA (PA:BNPP) was down 1.91% or 1.09 points to 56.06.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Air France KLM SA (PA:AIRF) which rose 4.84% to 5.048, Vinci SA (PA:SGEF) which was up 4.68% to settle at 68.27 and Spie SA (PA:SPIE) which gained 4.62% to close at 21.950.
The worst performers were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which was down 3.17% to 6.171 in late trade, Natixis (PA:CNAT) which lost 3.17% to settle at 5.228 and Nexans (PA:NEXS) which was down 3.04% to 52.68 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 322 to 293 and 105 ended unchanged.
Shares in Spie SA (PA:SPIE) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.62% or 0.970 to 21.950.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 1.09% to 16.27.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.68% or 8.35 to $1244.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.40% or 0.21 to hit $52.38 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.31% or 0.17 to trade at $55.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.22% to 1.0703, while EUR/GBP unchanged 0.00% to 0.8542.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 100.11.