France shares lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 0.42%

Investing.com – France equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Basic Materials , Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.42%, while the SBF 120 index lost 0.35%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the CAC 40 were Bouygues SA (PA: BOUY ), which rose 2.20% or 0.82 points to trade at 38.13 at the close. Engie SA (PA: ENGIE ) added 1.61% or 0.21 points to end at 13.59 and Vinci SA (PA: SGEF ) was up 1.55% or 1.19 points to 77.73 in late trade.

Biggest losers included ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ), which lost 3.28% or 0.655 points to trade at 19.305 in late trade. Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA (PA: MICP ) declined 2.69% or 3.10 points to end at 112.00 and Valeo SA (PA: VLOF ) shed 2.49% or 1.58 points to 61.97.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Ipsen (PA: IPN ) which rose 2.61% to 112.25, Eiffage (PA: FOUG ) which was up 2.29% to settle at 80.95 and Bouygues SA (PA: BOUY ) which gained 2.20% to close at 38.13.

The worst performers were ArcelorMittal SA (AS: MT ) which was down 3.28% to 19.305 in late trade, Plastic Omnium (PA: PLOF ) which lost 2.91% to settle at 33.08 and Vallourec (PA: VLLP ) which was down 2.89% to 5.614 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 311 to 301 and 86 ended unchanged on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The CAC 40 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.15% to 14.33.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.44% or 5.61 to $1267.71 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.48% or 1.23 to hit $48.43 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 2.51% or 1.31 to trade at $50.93 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.38% to 1.1229, while EUR/GBP rose 0.14% to 0.8712.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 96.97.