France shares higher at close of trade; CAC 40 up 0.59%

Investing.com – France equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials , Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.59% to hit a new 52-week high, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.54%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Credit Agricole SA (PA: CAGR ), which rose 4.76% or 0.560 points to trade at 12.315 at the close. Air Liquide SA (PA: AIRP ) added 3.07% or 3.15 points to end at 105.80 and Safran SA (PA: SAF ) was up 2.88% or 1.85 points to 66.05 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Renault SA (PA: RENA ), which lost 1.47% or 1.33 points to trade at 88.85 in late trade. Kering SA (PA: PRTP ) declined 1.16% or 2.70 points to end at 229.55 and Peugeot SA (PA: PEUP ) shed 0.86% or 0.16 points to 18.54.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Credit Agricole SA (PA: CAGR ) which rose 4.76% to 12.315, Air Liquide SA (PA: AIRP ) which was up 3.07% to settle at 105.80 and Ipsos (PA: ISOS ) which gained 2.88% to close at 33.44.

The worst performers were Zodiac Aerospace (PA: ZODC ) which was down 2.57% to 27.15 in late trade, Eutelsat Communications (PA: ETL ) which lost 2.41% to settle at 17.00 and Renault SA (PA: RENA ) which was down 1.47% to 88.85 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 340 to 260 and 107 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.44% to 14.24.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.60% or 7.30 to $1232.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.09% or 0.05 to hit $53.15 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.16% or 0.09 to trade at $55.88 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.17% to 1.0595, while EUR/GBP rose 0.38% to 0.8512.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 101.11.