France shares lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 1.70%

Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare , Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 declined 1.70% to hit a new 3-month low, while the SBF 120 index lost 1.66%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Renault SA (PA: RENA ), which rose 0.62% or 0.35 points to trade at 56.85 at the close. Bouygues SA (PA: BOUY ) added 0.16% or 0.05 points to end at 31.50 and Vivendi SA (PA: VIV ) was up 0.08% or 0.02 points to 23.65 in late trade.

Biggest losers included BNP Paribas SA (PA: BNPP ), which lost 6.68% or 2.96 points to trade at 41.33 in late trade. Valeo SA (PA: VLOF ) declined 4.23% or 1.13 points to end at 25.56 and ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ) shed 4.16% or 0.588 points to 13.536.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Electricite de France SA (PA: EDF ) which rose 2.66% to 12.34, Trigano SA (PA: TRIA ) which was up 0.85% to settle at 70.90 and Lagardere SCA (PA: LAGA ) which gained 0.65% to close at 21.60.

The worst performers were BNP Paribas SA (PA: BNPP ) which was down 6.68% to 41.33 in late trade, Spie SA (PA: SPIE ) which lost 5.26% to settle at 15.680 and Ipsos (PA: ISOS ) which was down 4.99% to 23.80 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 389 to 159 and 87 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 7.96% to 17.00.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.37% or 4.75 to $1281.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.11% or 1.25 to hit $57.89 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.95% or 1.34 to trade at $67.33 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1134, while EUR/GBP rose 0.05% to 0.8823.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 98.032.