(BFM Bourse) – The Paris Bourse changed little on Monday while the few operators present still gauge the Omicron threat. In this context, “covido-compatible” values are sought after, while technological values are neglected.
At the start of the last week of the year, traditionally calm in the markets while many investors are on vacation, operators are opting for caution coming out of a strong weekly performance (+ 2.31%) which brought back CAC close to its annual – and historic peak. Around 12:40 this Monday, the main barometer of the tricolor market thus displays an anecdotal variation (+ 0.06% to 7,096 points), in a volume of transactions barely more provided than that of Friday, 460 million euros having changed hands at this stage.
Across the Atlantic, where Wall Street remained closed Friday for Christmas Eve, futures contracts foreshadow a practically stable opening, despite the cancellation of several thousand flights on Sunday in the United States fueling investor fears about the economic consequences of the Omicron variant on economic recovery. If the places of Frankfurt and Milan have also reopened their doors today, the London Stock Exchange is however closed until Wednesday.
“This week will be either a feast or a famine, with little in between,” said Jeffrey Halley, Oanda analyst, in his morning note. “Either there will be violent intraday movements in stocks with low liquidity due to the holidays, or the volatility will remain flat,” he explains.
While new British studies have indicated that Omicron will lead to fewer hospitalizations, its meteoric spread around the world raises fears of restrictions or disorganization in economies in the near term. In France, the executive is now mobilized to transform the “sanitary pass” into a “vaccine pass” which will condition access to certain places to three doses of vaccines (the two initial doses plus the booster), after the bar of 100,000 new cases in 24 hours was crossed this Saturday, December 25, which is a record.
This new pandemic outbreak primarily benefits the “Covid values” of the tricolor, including the manufacturer of self-tests Biosynex (+ 8.3%) or the Franco-Austrian biotech Valneva at the origin of a vaccine against Covid (+ 5.2%). The specialist in the manufacture and marketing of in vitro diagnostic products, Novacyt is also soaring (+ 7.9%), as is the champion of single-use medical products (gloves, gowns, etc.) Euromedis (+7.5%) %).
Among the biggest stocks, Sartorius (+ 2.7%), Boiron (+ 2.3%) or Eurofins Scientific (+ 1.7%) are also sought after.
The cancellations of flights weigh on the other hand on crude prices (-0.2% to 75.6 dollars for a barrel of Brent shortly before 1 p.m.) and indirectly on the values of the sector, Schlumberger yielding in particular 1.9%. ADP is also suffering (-1.5%).
Technology stocks are also struggling, Worldline (-1.9%) occupying the last place of the ranking of the flagship index at midday, while STMicro also lost 1%.
Rare news of the day: the confirmation, by the Gorgé group, of the submission of a non-binding indicative offer for the takeover of the company iXblue specializing in inertial units (instruments used in navigation, in addition to GPS), which allows under the group active in civilian and military robotics to take 4.3% at 1 p.m.
Finally, on the foreign exchange market, the single currency fell 0.08% against the greenback at 1.1308 dollars.
Quentin Soubranne – © 2021 BFM Bourse