The Paris Bourse put an end to a series of four sessions of decline in a row (+0.47%), but the strength of the rebound clearly lost momentum over the course of the day, underlining the tensions which worry the investors.
The star CAC 40 index advanced 35.95 points to finish at 7,198.06 points. On Friday, it ended down 0.38%, accumulating a decline of 2.40% over the week.
The Parisian coast had started the session on the floor, progressing by more than 1.3% at midday, but its gains were considerably reduced afterwards.
“We feel that the markets are no longer celebrating. There has been an attempt at a technical rebound, after having reached thresholds in most indices, but it does not take”, comments Charles de Riedmatten, equity manager at Myria AM.
China, the engine of the markets at the start of the year thanks to “an easy base effect” compared to 2022, a year marked by confinements, is now participating “in the deterioration of sentiment, describes the manager.
Faced with struggling economic activity and a real estate sector in crisis, the authorities’ responses, such as the lowering of one of the Central Bank of China’s rates on Monday, do not satisfy the markets.
“We have been waiting for a recovery plan for a month and a half,” said Mr. de Riedmatten, but the construction of it is difficult by the amount of public debt.
Moreover, equity markets are also under pressure from rising bond yields. After a breather on Friday, interest rates on government bonds started to rise again on Monday: that of the French 10-year loan ending around 2.34%, close to its peak of 3.27% last week.
Investors are still awaiting the meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole (United States), from Thursday. They will seek to have more elements on the future policy of the American Central Bank, in particular if it still intends to raise its key rates, or how long does it intend to maintain them at a high level.
real estate goes down
Real estate companies suffered again on the stock market on Monday: Icade fell by 1.43% to 31.66 euros, Gecina by 1.29% to 91.70 euros. The land companies Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (-1.27% to 46.60 euros) and Klpierre (-1.06% to 23.36 euros) followed the same path.
The infrastructure specialist Antin fell by 5.12% to 13.54 euros, and groups with motorway concessions such as Vinci (-0.12% to 100.88 euros), or Eiffage (-0.42% to 89.80 euros), have back, the day the Minister Delegate for Transport Clment Beaune mentioned a possible additional tax.
Virbac not biting
The veterinary laboratory Virbac lost 2.94% to 264.50 euros after seeing its recommendation downgrade to “buy” “keep” by Stifel analysts. They warned that “the combination of lower sales and high inflation should continue to put pressure on margins”, and that comparing to 2022 performance will not be easy.
Visiomed regains health
The French biotech published a press release denouncing “defamatory and false allegations” on the part of its former subsidiary BewellConnect which had accused it of “scandalous practices”, causing the fall of the action last week.
The company’s share price rebounded by 28.92% to 0.42 euros, but this was insufficient to offset the losses of the past week.