Paris - French shares made strong gains on Monday, closing on the day's high, despite weakness among banking and environmental stocks.
The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 blue-chip index ended the day up 3.56 per cent, at 3,448.51, as advancing issues outpaced fallers by better than 3 to 1.
The winners were led by energy supplier GDF Suez, which was up 12.39 per cent, to 33.03 euros, while another utility, EDF, gained 8.25 per cent, to 44.83 euros.