by Diana Mandia
(Reuters) – The main European stock exchanges fell slightly on Wednesday mid-session, the market evolving with slight variations after two consecutive sessions of rebound and in the absence of Wall Street, where the stock market is closed on June 19.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.52% to 7,589.04 points around 1103 GMT and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.20%. In London, on the other hand, the FTSE 100 gained 0.13%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 0.33%, the FTSEurofirst 300 is down 0.05% and the Stoxx 600 is down 0.05%.
The only major indicator on today’s agenda, British inflation returned to its 2% target in May for the first time in almost three years, which should be welcomed by the Bank of England (BoE), which meets on Thursday.
However, UK data shows underlying price pressures remain strong, prompting caution on monetary policy.
Markets estimate that the BoE’s first monetary easing should come in September or October.
“Services inflation remains high, so core CPI is falling more slowly than the headline inflation rate, and inflation could actually rise again later this year – the path forward is not so not simple,” warns Shaun Port, Chase UK analyst.
In the euro zone, investors remain attentive to the turbulence linked to the French legislative elections. Barclays analysts, however, maintained their positive opinion on European banks on Wednesday.
VALUES IN EUROPE
In Paris, Dassault Systèmes lost 2.45%, the worst performance of the CAC 40, Exane BNP Paribas having lowered its recommendation to “underperformance” from “neutral”, estimating that the group’s five-year objectives are under pressure.
Société Générale fell by 0.1%, the bank not benefiting from the announcement of the sale of its neobank Shine to the Danish group Ageras. BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole are also in the red.
The European banking sector (+0.07%), however, continues to recover after the sharp decline linked to political risk in France.
The travel and leisure sector increased by 0.48%, boosted by the French hotel group Accor, which advanced by 1.7% after Barclays raised the recommendation on the stock to “overweight” from “online weighting”.
The German solar energy components group SMA Solar Technology, which issued a warning on its annual profit, fell by 26%.
RATE
Eurozone government bond yields are rising slightly, while the risk premium required by investors to hold French bonds remains stable.
The ten-year German Bund yield showed a small increase of 1.2 basis points to 2.4050%, while that of the OAT with the same maturity gained 2.2 basis points to 3.1418%.
The gap between the 10-year yields of France and Germany stands at 72 basis points, down from more than 80 reached last week.
CHANGES
The dollar lost 0.08% against a basket of reference currencies, while the euro, still under pressure due to risks linked to the French elections, recovered slightly and gained 0.09% to 1.0748 dollars.
OIL
Oil prices were fairly stable on Wednesday, remaining close to their highest levels in seven weeks.
Brent rose 0.05% to $85.37 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) lost 0.25% to $81.37.
(Some data may have a slight lag)
(Written by Diana Mandia)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters