French shares drop 0.50 pct Thursday

PARIS, May 3 (Xinhua) -- French shares lost on Thursday, with the benchmark Paris CAC 40 down 0.50 percent, or 27.56 points, to close at 5,501.66 points.

Of the 40 selected large companies, 22 lost in the day.

Belgian chemical company Solvay tumbled 5.73 percent, the top loser of the blue chips. Technipfmc, global leader in oil and gas projects, technologies, systems and services, was down 2.56 percent, and French banking company Credit Agricole lost 1.76 percent.

French transnational company Veolia Environment advanced 2.61 percent, the top gainer of the blue chips. European IT services corporation Atos rose 1.37 percent, and French Schneider Electric, a European multinational corporation that specializes in energy management, automation solutions and services, was up 0.74 percent. Enditem