Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Oil & Gas Producers sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 1.78%, while the SBF 120 index gained 1.72%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Technip (PA:TECF), which rose 6.22% or 2.90 points to trade at 49.58 at the close. Meanwhile, Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) added 5.95% or 2.31 points to end at 41.14 and Valeo SA (PA:VLOF) was up 4.96% or 6.45 points to 136.50 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were AXA SA (PA:AXAF), which fell 0.39% or 0.08 points to trade at 20.65 at the close. Airbus Group (PA:AIR) declined 0.15% or 0.09 points to end at 59.96 and Orange SA (PA:ORAN) was down 0.03% or 0.01 points to 15.59.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec (PA:VLLP) which rose 6.99% to 5.66, Technip (PA:TECF) which was up 6.22% to settle at 49.58 and Lafargeholcim Ltd (PA:LHN) which gained 5.95% to close at 41.14.
The worst performers were Numericable Pr (PA:NUME) which was down 1.12% to 37.675 in late trade, Bollore SA (PA:BOLL) which lost 1.02% to settle at 3.49 and Genfit (PA:GNFT) which was down 0.43% to 28.685 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 481 to 173 and 113 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 9.85% to 21.05.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.69% or 8.60 to $1228.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.65% or 0.25 to hit $38.53 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.98% or 0.39 to trade at $40.24 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.28% to 1.1326, while EUR/GBP rose 0.17% to 0.7873.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.32% at 94.87.