The last week of the year is looking good for the Paris Bourse, which ended up 0.76% on Monday, December 27. That score is a few points off its closing record, thus stepping over short-term concerns related to Omicron. The flagship CAC 40 index gained 53.81 points to 7,140.39 points, with a starving trade volume of just over 1.7 billion euros.
After a cautious start to the session, the Parisian odds consolidated their rise in the afternoon, approaching a few dozen points from their records (7,156.85 points at the close and 7,183.08 points in the session, both reached mid-November). “We often see this at the end of the year: movements which are a little exaggerated for lack of liquidity”, explains Florence Barjou, investment manager of Lyxor AM.
See the “half-full” cut
Friday, the CAC 40 had closed its half-New Year’s Eve session on a drop of 0.28%, but recording an increase of 2.31% over the week. “The market still clearly wants to see the cup half full rather than half empty” in the face of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 which is spreading at full speed across the world, adds Florence Barjou.
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While new UK studies have indicated Omicron will lead to fewer hospitalizations, its spread raises fears of restrictions or disorganization in economies in the short term. In France, the executive met on Monday to decide on possible new restrictive measures in the face of the meteoric surge from Omicron and to accelerate the transformation of the health pass into a vaccine pass. A press conference by Prime Minister Jean Castex and Minister of Health Olivier Véran is scheduled for 7.15 p.m.
But the markets say to themselves that this is “perhaps the last big wave” and are surely reassured by “the prospects for collective immunity, the treatments, the vaccination and also the fact that even if the cases progress, the mortality, in particular that linked to Omicron, remains relatively contained “, continues Florence Barjou.