Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Automobiles & Parts, Gas Water and Banks sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 1.52% to hit a new 6-month high, while the SBF 120 index added 1.51%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Saint Gobain (PARIS:SGOB), which rose 5.11% or 1.84 points to trade at 37.98 at the close. Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA) added 5.09% or 0.145 points to end at 2.994 and Renault SA (PARIS:RENA) was up 3.78% or 2.46 points to 67.52 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Gemalto (AMS:GTO), which fell 2.83% or 1.83 points to trade at 63.03 at the close. Essilor International (PARIS:ESSI) declined 2.60% or 2.58 points to end at 96.78 and Pernod Ricard (PARIS:PERP) was down 0.82% or 0.85 points to 102.25.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Saint Gobain (PARIS:SGOB) which rose 5.11% to 37.98, Alcatel-Lucent (PARIS:ALUA) which was up 5.09% to settle at 2.994 and Solocal Group (PARIS:LOCAL) which gained 5.07% to close at 0.704.
The worst performers were Gemalto (AMS:GTO) which was down 2.83% to 63.03 in late trade, Essilor International (PARIS:ESSI) which lost 2.60% to settle at 96.78 and Soitec (PARIS:SOIT) which was down 2.06% to 0.950 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 583 to 310 and 56 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 10.17% to 21.23.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.56% or 7.30 to $1301.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 1.82% or 0.87 to hit $46.91 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.04 to trade at $48.98 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.70% to 1.1412, while EUR/GBP fell 1.12% to 0.7581.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.17% at 94.10.