THE TREND
(Boursier.com) — This last week of the year could not have started better. In volumes it is true very reduced in the absence of many operators, the CAC40 progressed by nearly 1% to 6,566 points at midday. The bullish momentum comes from China as Beijing announced further easing of coronavirus health restrictions in the country. Despite the surge in contamination, the Party has notably decided to lift the mandatory quarantine for people arriving in China. Luxury is logically benefiting from this good news and pulling the Parisian market upwards.
The Chinese authorities have therefore decided to lift, as of January 8, the mandatory anti-Covid-19 quarantine for anyone entering its territory. The disease has also been downgraded to category B, such as anthrax or AIDS, whereas until now it was managed according to a category A protocol, such as cholera and bubonic plague. And rumors about new support measures for the local economy are circulating in trading rooms.
Business news is logically sparse and the macro agenda is hardly fuller with a few second-tier indicators to watch in the United States.
The euro/dollar pair reached $1.063 this afternoon. A barrel of Brent is trading at $84.8 (+1%) and an ounce of gold is trading at $1,808.
RISING VALUES
* Nanobiotix (+2.9% to 3.8 euros) announces that a first patient has been randomized in the United States in the NANORAY-312 trial, a global Phase 3 trial evaluating NBTXR3 in the treatment of elderly patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who are not eligible for platinum-based chemotherapy. NBTXR3 activated by radiotherapy will be evaluated alone or in combination with cetuximab. NBTXR3 is a potentially first-in-class radioenhancer with broad application in solid tumors, with priority given to head and neck cancer.
* LVMH climbed 2.2% to 688.6 euros, with Kering (+1.8% to 480.4 euros) and Hermes (+1.7% to 1,468 euros). The luxury compartment is sought after the latest announcements from Beijing in the fight against Covid-19. The lifting, from January 8, of the mandatory quarantine for anyone entering China marks an important step in the reopening of the country.
* TotalEnergies wins 1% to 59, euros in the wake of crude prices.
* Saffron (+1.2% to 119 euros) will pay 17.2 million dollars (16.2 million euros) as part of an agreement with the US Department of Justice to end an investigation into the payment of bribes in China by its subsidiaries, US authorities announced on Friday.
FALLING VALUES
* METabolic Explorer plunged 12% to 1.4 euros. The company announced the signing, on December 23, of an agreement with its main partners securing the liquidity needed to execute the Group’s strategy and the 2023-2024 industrial transformation plan. This Agreement incorporates new financing enabling the Group to make the first investments needed to deploy its strategy without delay, to boost the sales forces, and to gradually resume production at the METEX NØØVISTAGO plant in Amiens, in order to guarantee its customers a local supply of amino acids and low-carbon functional solutions.
* Metavisio fall of 8% to 4.14 euros. The group announced on Friday that it was ending its discussions with SPAC SportsTek Acquisition. The two companies have “ended their exclusive negotiations and will not sign the contractual documents relating to the business combination. Metavisio shares will therefore remain listed on Euronext Growth in Paris”… And he indicates this morning to continue to discuss with several strategic partners in the United States in order to develop on the American market, the world’s leading market for computers and tablets, and to list Metavisio on an American stock exchange (NASDAQ or NYSE). Indeed Metavisio already generates 5% of its turnover in the United States, which is unique for a French computer hardware company, but this country should eventually represent the largest share of the company’s turnover. The firm has also just opened a 100% subsidiary in New Delhi in order to participate in Indian government public tenders and also distribute its computers to the general public in stores or on the Internet.
* Ipsen lost 1.4% to 96.7 euros. US regulatory authorities (FDA) have issued a comprehensive response letter regarding the application for approval of palovarotene, an investigational treatment aimed at decreasing bone formation outside the normal skeletal system (heterotopic ossification) in people with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (POF). The comprehensive response letter follows the FDA’s previous request for additional information, which was communicated to Ipsen in October, it is not a request for additional data on the efficacy and tolerability of the treatment beyond of the scope of existing studies. Ipsen expects to respond to this request in the first quarter of 2023 and anticipates a six-month review period by the FDA. The FDA has yet to announce a new date for a possible meeting of the Endocrine and Metabolic Treatments Advisory Committee for the investigational drug palovarotene.
“While this application extends the review period for palovarotene’s application for approval, we continue to work with the FDA to provide the requested information and remain confident that investigational palovarotene can provide an innovative therapeutic solution to reduce the formation bone outside of the normal skeletal system to slow the progression of FOP,” said Howard Mayer, Executive Vice President, Director of Research and Development.
* Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (-0.3% to 48.8 euros) has completed the sale of ‘The Village’, an open-air commercial space located in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, to the Kroenke organization. The aggregate sale price is $325 million (100%, URW owns 55%). With this operation, URW has now completed disposals representing a total amount of 1.1 billion dollars on the other side of the Atlantic. They are part of the strategy to reduce the group’s financial exposure in the United States.