The Paris Stock Exchange ended sharply down (-1.20%) on Monday, abruptly ending its short-lived rebound of last Friday which broke on Gazprom’s announcement of the closure of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline and the fall in the euro that followed.
The flagship index of the Parisian market, the CAC 40, fell 74.29 points to 6,093.22 points after strong gains on Friday which were however not enough to rebalance a week that ended down (-1.70% ).
The announcement on Friday of the complete shutdown of the gas pipeline by the Russian giant Gazprom precipitated the fall in European markets on Monday and caused a sharp decline in Paris where car stocks, particularly sensitive to the risks of recession, finished at the bottom of the CAC 40 .
The car manufacturer Renault lost 5.48% (to 27.76 euros per share), Stellantis 4.86% (to 12.82 euros) while the tire producer Michelin fell 3.57% (to 23 .61 euros).
On the broader SBF 120 index, automotive suppliers Faurecia and Valeo respectively fell 8.94% to 13.19 euros and 8.27% to 17.70 euros.
“An energy supply shock, while unemployment remains [relativement] down [à 6,6% pour l’ensemble de la zone euro en juillet] and inflationary pressures are reaching record highs, poses an unusually difficult challenge for the European Central Bank (ECB)” which meets on Thursday to decide whether to continue its monetary tightening, Ebury analysts say.
Investors expect the institution to continue raising its key rates, which began in July, to control inflation.
Chaguir Mandjee, portfolio manager at Tailor AM nevertheless underlines a “contradiction between on the one hand the ECB which presses the brake pedal” by slowing down the economy by raising its key rates and on the other hand “the different States Europeans who, on the contrary, press on the accelerator by fueling the public deficit” to support households and protect them from the rise in energy prices.
The risk, according to Mr. Mandjee, would be that “the ECB goes a little further than current market expectations” in raising its rates, weighing more on the already fragile health of the European economy.
Friday is to be held in Brussels an emergency meeting of energy ministers of the European Union.
Energy and defense resist
In all, only four stocks finished in the green within the CAC 40 on Monday, supported by the context of energy and geopolitical tensions. On the defense side, Thales gained 2.33% to 123.00 euros. The Dassault Systèmes group took 0.63% to 38.62 euros. As for energy producers and suppliers, the giant TotalEnergies gained 3.14% to 53.18 euros per share and Engie gained 0.51% to 12.23 euros.
bur-jnb/pan/mj