The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP/Archives/ERIC PIERMONT)
The flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange, the CAC 40, ended 2023 at 7,543.18 points, a gain of 16.52% over the year, its third best performance over the last ten years thanks in particular to the decline in inflation.
The CAC 40 rose sharply at the start and end of the year, and established its absolute session record in December, at 7,653.99 points. Among the companies that make it up, the manufacturer Stellantis (+59.34%), the construction materials specialist Saint-Gobain (+46.02%) and the advertising giant Publicis (+41.37%) achieved the best performance.
Taking into account the payment of dividends, the gain for an investor is even more than 20.14%.
On Friday, the CAC 40 ended up 0.11%, in a calm market due to the absence of indicators and market players.
Main information, inflation in Spain in December stood at 3.1% over one year, compared to 3.3% expected by analysts.
The figure confirms the trend of disinflation that took place throughout 2023. Thanks to this, investors are now convinced that central banks have a clear path to lowering their key rates after having raised them sharply since 2022, and having made a break in the second part of 2023.
This conviction has sharply reduced the interest rates of States. The French ten-year bond, the benchmark, ended the year at around 2.56%, a clear increase in two days but very far from its peak two months ago, at almost 3. 60%.
“We expect a lot from central banks. They will perhaps seek to show a little patience, because once the rate cuts have started, there is a strong psychological effect” for this trend to continue, comments Aurélien Buffault, director of bond management at Delubac AM.
The Paris Stock Exchange closes for a three-day weekend and will not open until Tuesday January 2.
The broad index of the Paris Stock Exchange, the SBF 120, gains 15.26% in 2023.
Stellantis rushes, Alstom goes off the rails
The Stellantis automobile group, born in 2021 from the merger of Peugeot-Citroën (PSA) and Fiat-Chrysler (FCA), had a prosperous year. The manufacturer with fourteen brands published a record net profit of 10.9 billion euros in the first half (+37% over one year), with a strong operating margin, boosted by the high prices of its vehicles. Its shares soared 59.34% over the year.
The construction materials specialist Saint-Gobain (+46.02%) and the advertising giant Publicis (+41.37%) accompanied him on the podium.
Twelve groups grew by more than 30% over the year.
Conversely, six companies present on the CAC 40 at the end of the year saw their shares decline.
Alstom, weighed down by commercial and financial difficulties, lost more than 46% of its stock market value over the year. Teleperformance had another difficult year, falling 40.70%. Kering lost 16.09%, a rare luxury stock to suffer significant disenchantment from investors.
Worldline, in the flagship index until mid-December, was finally demoted in particular due to its disastrous stock market performance in 2023, with a loss of almost 60% in one session. Over the year, the stock plunged 57.10%.
LVMH (+7.90% over the year) remains the company whose stock market value is the highest among those listed in Paris, ahead of L’Oréal (+35.09%) and Hermès (+32.79% ).
© 2023 AFP
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