France stocks lower at close of trade

France stocks lower at close of trade

France stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas Producers sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 declined 0.90% to hit a new 1-month low, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.83%.

The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Airbus Group , which rose 0.50% or 0.28 points to trade at 56.74 at the close. Meanwhile, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA  added 0.49% or 0.18 points to end at 37.71 and Technip  was up 0.24% or 0.12 points to 47.34 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were BNP Paribas SA , which fell 3.84% or 1.65 points to trade at 41.35 at the close. Societe Generale  declined 3.45% or 1.07 points to end at 30.07 and Peugeot SA  was down 2.34% or 0.32 points to 13.12.

The top performers on the SBF 120 were Vallourec which rose 6.81% to 6.32, STMicroelectronics which was up 4.17% to settle at 4.800 and Neopost  which gained 1.63% to close at 17.51.

The worst performers were CGG  which was down 4.69% to 0.61 in late trade, BNP Paribas SA  which lost 3.84% to settle at 41.35 and Societe Generale  which was down 3.45% to 30.07 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 397 to 259 and 112 ended unchanged.

The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 1.05% to 23.87.

Gold for June delivery was up 1.36% or 16.70 to $1240.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 2.62% or 0.99 to hit $36.76 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 2.51% or 1.00 to trade at $38.84 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.1383, while EUR/GBP rose 0.16% to 0.8085.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.04% at 94.45.