Investing.com – France stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Gas & Water and General Financial sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 added 1.24%, while the SBF 120 index climbed 1.25%.
The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Engie SA (PA:ENGIE), which rose 3.54% or 0.42 points to trade at 12.45 at the close. Meanwhile, Dassault Systemes (PA:DAST) added 3.36% or 3.60 points to end at 110.75 and Orange SA (PA:ORAN) was up 2.87% or 0.41 points to 14.49 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were STMicroelectronics NV (PA:STM), which fell 1.23% or 0.165 points to trade at 13.260 at the close. TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) declined 1.04% or 0.24 points to end at 22.85 and Credit Agricole SA (PA:CAGR) was down 0.83% or 0.096 points to 11.412.
The top performers on the SBF 120 were Ipsos (PA:ISOS) which rose 7.59% to 24.94, Nexity (PA:NEXI) which was up 4.54% to settle at 43.76 and Electricite de France SA (PA:EDF) which gained 4.32% to close at 15.56.
The worst performers were CGG SA (PA:GEPH) which was down 7.74% to 1.906 in late trade, Metropole TV (PA:MMTP) which lost 3.04% to settle at 16.90 and Vicat (PA:VCTP) which was down 2.63% to 45.18 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 377 to 184 and 103 ended unchanged.
The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was down 8.36% to 16.26.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 5.60 to $1229.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.48% or 0.30 to hit $61.91 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.10% or 0.07 to trade at $72.20 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.32% to 1.1463, while EUR/GBP fell 0.09% to 0.8717.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.38% at 95.75.