Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Foods & Drugs, Gas & Water and General Financial sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.20% to hit a new 5-year high, while the SBF 120 index gained 0.17%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Worldline SA (PA:WLN), which rose 2.04% or 1.61 points to trade at 80.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Safran SA (PA:SAF) added 1.79% or 2.20 points to end at 125.34 and Air Liquide SA (PA:AIRP) was up 1.43% or 2.06 points to 146.60 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Societe Generale SA (PA:SOGN), which fell 2.40% or 0.63 points to trade at 25.64 at the close. Alstom SA (PA:ALSO) declined 2.05% or 0.94 points to end at 44.92 and Credit Agricole SA (PA:CAGR) was down 1.64% or 0.20 points to 12.25.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Neoen SA (PA:NEOEN) which rose 5.87% to 36.10, Eurofins Scientific SE (PA:EUFI) which was up 2.55% to settle at 89.14 and Worldline SA (PA:WLN) which gained 2.04% to close at 80.65.
The worst performers were Mcphy Energy (PA:MCPHY) which was down 14.95% to 23.22 in late trade, Valneva (PA:VLS) which lost 5.19% to settle at 10.970 and CGG SA (PA:GEPH) which was down 4.77% to 0.910 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 346 to 235 and 85 ended unchanged.
Shares in Air Liquide SA (PA:AIRP) rose to all time highs; gaining 1.43% or 2.06 to 146.60. Shares in Eurofins Scientific SE (PA:EUFI) rose to 52-week highs; up 2.55% or 2.22 to 89.14.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was unchanged 0% to 18.96 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.30% or 5.50 to $1861.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.97% or 0.70 to hit $72.82 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.16% or 0.86 to trade at $74.85 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.05% to 1.2118, while EUR/GBP fell 0.21% to 0.8589.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 90.477.