The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP/Archives/ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange ended slightly up 0.09% on Friday, at the end of a week in which it failed to cross the record threshold of 8,000 points, after data a little less good than expected on inflation in the euro zone.
The CAC 40 gained 6.74 points, to 7,934.17 points. On Thursday, he had marginally improved his session record, with 7,977.68 points.
The flagship index of the Paris Stock Exchange remains a good distance from the symbolic threshold of 8,000 points, which it has never crossed and which it has been getting closer to for several sessions.
Over the week, the results are negative: the CAC 40 fell by 0.41%.
The session was dominated by the publication of a decline in inflation in the euro zone in February, which fell to 2.6% over one year, but this decline is a little less marked than anticipated by economists.
“In the euro zone as in the United States, we have a drop in inflation, but we would have liked it to go faster,” underlined Valérie Rizk, economist at Hugau Gestion.
These data are important less than a week before the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), which is not expected to lower its key rates, according to market consensus.
“Central bankers are in a wait-and-see position, they need more (macro-economic) data to start talking about lowering rates,” commented Valérie Rizk.
According to this economist, investors, after having hoped at the start of the year for a rate cut in March, in February “adjusted their expectations” and are now counting on “a first cut this summer”. This vision converges with the projections of central bankers, she noted.
Saint-Gobain in the tough
Saint-Gobain, which suffered from the new construction crisis in Europe last year, announced declining results and turnover for 2023 after a record 2022.
The construction materials giant saw its net profit fall by 11% last year compared to 2022, falling to 2.67 billion euros on a turnover down 6.4% to 47.94 Billions of Euro’s. The group highlighted its “record” operating margin at 11%.
The stock fell 3.65% to 68.60 euros, the worst performance of the CAC 40 on Friday.
Teleperformance, worst performance of the week
The global call center giant Teleperformance tumbled 16.38% over the week, the worst weekly performance in the CAC 40.
On Wednesday, new fears about competition from artificial intelligence caused the stock, a former rising stock on the Parisian market during the pandemic, to fall sharply.
On Friday, Teleperformance shares lost another 3.10%, to 111 euros.
© 2024 AFP
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