(BFM Bourse) – The Paris Stock Exchange is starting the month of August on the wrong foot. The CAC 40 closes this first session down sharply by 1.2% after degraded indicators on the front of manufacturing activity in the main world economies.
After having closed July in the green, the Paris Stock Exchange printed a very heavy trend in this first session of August. The CAC 40 closed sharply down 1.22% at 7406.08 points, a few points from its lowest observed in the session (7403.16 points).
The Paris market has caught its breath after degraded indicators on the front of manufacturing activity in China, Europe and the United States. Like China and the Old Continent, manufacturing activity in the United States indeed remained below the 50 point mark, at 46.4 points, which indicates that it continues to contract.
In addition to these degraded indicators, investors are not taking any risk before Wednesday and the Bank of England’s decision on its key rates, which will be followed on Friday by US employment figures for July. In this regard, job vacancies contracted to 9.58 million in June after 9.8 million in May, according to the JOLTS report.
Atos closes lower, Euroapi in great shape
Atos, which gained up to 14% in the morning, finally closed down 4% after confirming on Tuesday its plan to sell its historic outsourcing activities to businessman Daniel Kretinsky.
Euroapi soared 17.10% after starting the day down 5%. The half-yearly publication of the active ingredient manufacturer was appreciated.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro lost 0.25% to 1.0970 dollars. As for oil prices, they remain on a downward trend. The September contract on Brent from the North Sea lost 0.75% to 84.75 dollars, while that of the same expiry date on WTI listed in New York returned 0.7% to 81.23 dollars a barrel.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2023 BFM Bourse