French shares lost on Thursday, with the benchmark Paris CAC 40 down 1.88 percent, or 98.55 points, to close at 5,154.35 points.

Of the 40 selected large companies, 39 lost in the day.

Industrial Bouygues tumbled 3.81 percent, the top loser of the blue chips. European IT services corporation Atos was down 3.77 percent and French multinational luxury goods conglomerate LVMH lost 3.71 percent.

French banking giant Societe Generale gained 0.11 percent, the only gainer of the day.