by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Friday while Wall Street moved in disorder at mid-session, the rebound in equity markets, at the end of a see-saw week, being fueled partly by the words of Vladimir Putin referring to progress in the discussions with Ukraine.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.85% to 6,260.25 points. The British Footsie took 0.72% and the German Dax 1.38%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index advanced 0.97%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.99% and the Stoxx 600 0.95%.
Over the week as a whole, the CAC 40 gained 3.27% and the Stoxx 600 2.48%, the first weekly gains in four weeks for the Paris market and the pan-European index, since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Even though the war in Ukraine is far from over, Emmanuel Macron having further announced a new round of sanctions against Russia as European leaders, meeting in Versailles, agreed on a plan to free the European Union of Russian hydrocarbons by 2027, investors are clinging for the moment to the hope of a resolution of the conflict.
Vladimir Putin reported on Friday positive developments in discussions with the Ukrainian authorities, without however giving further details.
“Even if our baseline scenario remains a ceasefire and a lull in the war rhetoric between Russia and NATO by the summer (…), the war contributes to the lack of visibility on the commodity prices, global growth and inflation,” said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management.
VALUES IN EUROPE
On the Stoxx 600, all the main sectors ended in the green, with the exception of oil and gas (-0.09%), which benefited in previous sessions from the surge in crude prices.
Finance (+2.18%), insurance (+2.14%), tourism (+3.56%) and real estate (+1.6%) were among the most sought-after sectors.
Air France-KLM and Accor advanced 0.6% to 2.95% respectively, while the banking index rebounded 0.81%.
In financial publications, EssilorLuxottica gained 2.8% after saying it expects an operating margin of nearly 20% by 2026.
Leonardo, for its part, jumped 11.5%, the Italian defense and aeronautics group counting on the announced increase in defense budgets in Europe to boost its results and its cash flow.
On the mergers and acquisitions side, Pearson has granted itself a gain of 18%, the American fund Apollo having announced that it is studying the possibility of a takeover offer from the British school and university publishing group.
AT WALL STREET
At the close in Europe, the Dow Jones was up 0.35%, but the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 0.20% and the Nasdaq 0.98%.
The indices, which had all opened higher, are volatile and are struggling to find a clear direction due in particular to the decline in digital heavyweights such as Apple (-1.9%) and Meta Platforms (-3.35%).
According to internal emails seen by Reuters, Facebook’s parent company will allow calls for violence against Russians and the death of Vladimir Putin, an interim shift in hate speech policy that led the Kremlin to threaten the group with suspending its activities in Russia.
The energy compartment, which has recorded gains in nine of the last ten sessions, also fell, by 0.5%, while the major banks on Wall Street are sought, in the hope of an easing of tensions in Ukraine. The banking index advances by 0.3%.
On the results side, Oracle dropped more than 2.45% after a quarterly profit below expectations, while the Chinese ride-hailing services giant Didi Global fell 38% after the group’s decision to suspend its listing project in Hong Kong.
THE INDICATORS OF THE DAY
The morale of American households has deteriorated more than expected since the beginning of March with a confidence index at 59.7, the lowest level since September 2011, according to the first estimate of the monthly survey of the University of Michigan.
CHANGES
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar rose 0.26% against other major currencies, the market preparing for a hike in interest rates in the United States next week, the day after a further acceleration of the inflation, now at a 40 year-on-year peak in February.
The euro, down 0.33% against the dollar, is trading at 1.0946 as the single European currency lost its initial gains.
RATE
Bond yields, which had been supported on Thursday by the acceleration in consumer prices, are broadly stable.
The ten-year US rate remains above 2%, while that of the German Bund of the same maturity ended practically unchanged from Thursday at 0.2730% after rising in session to 0.312%, a peak of three weeks.
The yield of the French ten-year OAT also ended practically stable at 0.746%.
OIL
The oil market is still trending higher but is pulling back from its nearly 14-year highs at the start of the week, in response to some profit taking.
Brent gained 2.33% on Friday to 111.83 dollars a barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) took 2.86% to 109 dollars, while the two oil benchmarks had hit records respectively on Monday. $139.13 and $130.50 per barrel.
(Report Claude Chendjou, edited by Sophie Louet)
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