France shares lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 0.25%

Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas , Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.25%, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.10%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were TechnipFMC PLC (PA: FTI ), which rose 2.05% or 0.67 points to trade at 33.38 at the close. Kering SA (PA: PRTP ) added 1.66% or 3.75 points to end at 230.10 and Pernod Ricard SA (PA: PERP ) was up 1.54% or 1.65 points to 108.45 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Safran SA (PA: SAF ), which lost 5.43% or 3.65 points to trade at 63.62 in late trade. Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA: ESSI ) declined 3.17% or 3.60 points to end at 109.90 and Klepierre (PA: LOIM ) shed 2.48% or 0.90 points to 35.27.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Zodiac Aerospace (PA: ZODC ) which rose 22.91% to 28.65, Remy Cointreau (PA: RCOP ) which was up 6.39% to settle at 87.08 and Biomerieux (PA: BIOX ) which gained 3.10% to close at 151.50.

The worst performers were Safran SA (PA: SAF ) which was down 5.43% to 63.62 in late trade, Gemalto (AS: GTO ) which lost 3.29% to settle at 53.14 and Essilor International Compagnie Generale d’Optique SA (PA: ESSI ) which was down 3.17% to 109.90 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 347 to 271 and 82 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 1.16% to 14.72.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 1.13% or 13.75 to $1198.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.22% or 0.11 to hit $51.19 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.14 to trade at $54.06 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.14% to 1.0615, while EUR/GBP fell 0.40% to 0.8636.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.25% at 101.56.