Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gas & Water, Utilities and Foods & Drugs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.27%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 0.21%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Orange SA (PARIS:ORAN), which rose 1.86% or 0.25 points to trade at 13.69 at the close. Meanwhile, Veolia Environnement (PARIS:VIE) added 1.20% or 0.215 points to end at 18.105 and Vinci SA (PARIS:SGEF) was up 1.20% or 0.61 points to 51.60 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Valeo (PARIS:VLOF), which fell 2.13% or 2.95 points to trade at 135.45 at the close. Arcelormittal (AMS:ISPA) declined 1.96% or 0.18 points to end at 9.15 and Renault SA (PARIS:RENA) was down 1.18% or 1.08 points to 90.66.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Suez Environnement (PARIS:SEVI) which rose 2.73% to 17.150, Gemalto (AMS:GTO) which was up 2.02% to settle at 81.67 and Remy Cointreau (PARIS:RCOP) which gained 1.94% to close at 67.33.
The worst performers were Eurofins Scientific (PARIS:EUFI) which was down 4.17% to 253.00 in late trade, CGG (PARIS:GEPH) which lost 3.49% to settle at 5.67 and Altran Technologies (PARIS:ALTT) which was down 2.14% to 9.375 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 557 to 346 and 48 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 0.09% to 27.08.
Gold for August delivery was up 1.96% or 23.10 to $1199.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.78% or 0.47 to hit $60.80 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.84% or 0.54 to trade at $64.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.58% to 1.1403, while EUR/GBP rose 0.35% to 0.7185.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.43% at 94.08.