(BFM Bourse) – In the lowest trading volume of the last 10 years, less than half a billion euros in securities having changed hands, the CAC 40 retrocedes 0.28% on Friday but resumes 2.31 % on a weekly basis, relieved of the dangerousness of Omicron.
Already sated on Christmas Eve, the Parisian market has taken the time to digest the three consecutive strong increases that have brought the ACC to more than 7,100 points this Thursday at the close. In a deserted market (like every year, which raises the question of the interest of leaving the market open on December 24), the star index has moved in a “range” of less than 30 points and ends this half. session on a decline of 0.28% to 7,086.58 points. Only 526 million euros of securities changed hands this Friday within the CAC, which corresponds to the lowest volume of exchanges over the last ten years, ahead of the sessions of December 24, 2019 (532 million) and 2020 (560 millions). Many market participants have in fact gone on vacation while the stock exchanges in Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid and New York in particular are closed on Friday.
Despite the fear of Monday (-0.7% at the close but up to -2.6% in the morning) linked to the return of certain restrictions due to the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant and this last session for not much, the CAC 40 posted a solid weekly performance (+ 2.31%), while fears related to the dangerousness of this new strain diminished.
In particular, new studies have shown that the risk of hospitalization is lower than with previous forms of the coronavirus, even if its faster spread could still put pressure on health systems. “The markets continue to sweep the impact of Omicron because that’s what they want to hear, and the US data released Thursday presented solid results,” said Jeffrey Halley, analyst for Oanda.
Strike at Fnac Darty
The latter refers to weekly jobless claims, still very low, and durable goods orders for November higher than expected. The New York indices thus closed the session in the green for the third consecutive session this Thursday, allowing the S&P to reach a 68th historic peak in 2021.
Very little activity on the side of values, where Fnac Darty fell by 1.5%, while 200 of its employees walked out on Christmas Eve at the call of the CGT to demand an improvement in their wages and their working conditions.
Within the flagship index, the best performance of the day is for Wordline and STMicro (+ 1.2% each), while Stellantis brings up the rear (-0.8%).
Almost no larger scale movement in the SBF 120, whose track record is dominated by Scor (+ 2.4%) and Colas (+ 2%).
The standstill is also hitting other asset classes. At the end of 3 rebound sessions, the barrel of Brent changed little at 2:10 p.m. (-0.1% to 76.5 dollars). On Forex, the single currency returns 0.11% to its recent gains, at 1.1312 dollars. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has been trading again at more than $ 50,000 since Thursday (+ 0.3% to $ 50,900).
Quentin Soubranne – © 2021 BFM Bourse