Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Pharmaceuticals & Biotech, Health Care and Software sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.15%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.29%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Technip (PARIS:TECF), which rose 3.68% or 1.98 points to trade at 55.80 at the close. Meanwhile, Sanofi (PARIS:SASY) added 3.60% or 2.94 points to end at 84.53 and Vinci SA (PARIS:SGEF) was up 2.68% or 1.29 points to 49.62 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were BNP Paribas Act. A (PARIS:BNPP), which fell 3.69% or 1.80 points to trade at 47.01 at the close. GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) declined 2.35% or 0.46 points to end at 19.14 and Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) was down 1.98% or 0.65 points to 32.00.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Dassault Systemes (PARIS:DAST) which rose 7.98% to 59.14, Maurel Et Prom (PARIS:MAUP) which was up 3.74% to settle at 8.23 and Technip (PARIS:TECF) which gained 3.68% to close at 55.80.
The worst performers were BNP Paribas Act. A (PARIS:BNPP) which was down 3.69% to 47.01 in late trade, GDF Suez (PARIS:GSZ) which lost 2.35% to settle at 19.14 and Bouygues (PARIS:BOUY) which was down 1.98% to 32.00 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 576 to 325 and 53 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 2.38% to 20.47.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.12% or 1.50 to $1263.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 6.23% or 3.02 to hit $51.47 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 5.59% or 3.02 to trade at $57.19 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.88% to 1.1443, while EUR/GBP rose 0.15% to 0.7483.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.74% at 93.88.