(BFM Bourse) – The Paris Stock Exchange is back to its two-month highs. The CAC 40 closed up 0.65% on Friday evening, despite the decline in Thales. A performance that allows the flagship index to post a gain of 0.8% over the week.
The Paris Stock Exchange took to the skies during this week marked by the start of the earnings season. The CAC 40 managed to preserve the 7400 points, thanks to an increase of 0.65% on Friday, to return to two-month highs at 7432.77 points.
The Paris market benefited from the precious support of the luxury compartment, with L’Oréal (+2.5%), Hermès (+1.9%) and LVMH (+1.6%), which made it possible to mitigate the decline of Thales (-4.8%) sanctioned after disappointing prospects. Over the week as a whole, the index therefore recorded a gain of 0.79% after an initial burst of results deemed mixed.
After those of Publicis Thursday and Thales Friday, the agenda of publications will significantly expand next week. No fewer than 32 CAC 40 groups will deliver results (a turnover for Alstom) between July 24 and 28, ie 80% of the index. Then five of them (Veolia, Legrand, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole SA, Axa) will be expected during the first week of August.
Investors also have their eyes on the monetary policy meetings of the major central banks which will also take place next week, including the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.
“Decelerating inflation and US consumer resilience had been supporting the bullish momentum in risky assets in recent days. But the market is aware that too much resilience could force central banks to hold the stranglehold on the economy to slow further, to ensure inflationary pressures dissipate,” said LBPAM’s Sebastian Paris Horvitz.
“Thus, the new evidence of the resilience of employment across the Atlantic has put pressure on long rates again, while some results of companies in the technology segment, supposed to be resistant to everything, have come to undermine this belief”, he adds.
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The defense sector has lead in the wing
The warning from the Taiwanese group TSMC, the largest independent semiconductor foundry in the world, as well as the disappointing results and outlook of the German professional software publisher SAP, weigh somewhat on the technological stocks of the Parisian market, with STMicroelectronics which lost 1.2% and Capgemini 1.2%.
The biggest drop in the CAC 40, however, goes to Thales, which therefore lost 4.8% after half-year results which saw it revise its like-for-like growth outlook upwards, but downwards its revenue forecast in value, due to unfavorable exchange rate effects.
Its reference shareholder Dassault Aviation is not left out, and dropped 8.5%. Falcon’s order intake was more than three times lower than in the first half of 2022, while overall deliveries fell.
Still outside the star index, Ubisoft gained 5% after confirming its objectives for the 2023-2024 fiscal year ending next March and delivering first-quarter activity slightly above expectations.
Safran limited its gains to 0.2% after announcing plans to buy Collins Aerospace’s actuation and flight control business for $1.8 billion.
Hopium shares experienced a chaotic recovery and closed down sharply by 18.5%, after dropping 55% during the season. following the announcement of the placement in receivership of the company.
On the other markets, the euro lost 0.15% against the dollar at 1.1118 dollar. Oil contracts are moving up. The September contract on Brent from the North Sea advances by 1.2% to 80.62 dollars a barrel while that of the same expiry on WTI listed in New York gains 1.4% to 76.69 dollars a barrel.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse