The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP/Archives/ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange closed in balance on Wednesday, a small easing in the bond market allowing it to narrowly escape a third session of decline this week.
The flagship CAC 40 index dropped some 0.32 points (-0.00%) and closed at its lowest level since January. On Tuesday, the Paris Stock Exchange closed at 6,997.05 points, falling below the threshold of 7,000 points for the first time since March 2023, when the banking crisis caused all world stock markets to decline.
For several days, investors have had their eyes focused on the bond market, where the yield on 10-year American bonds once again reached its highest level in more than 16 years at 4.88%, before falling to 4.73. % at the end of the session.
The ten-year German debt rate, which is a benchmark on the Old Continent, exceeded 3% on Wednesday for the first time since 2011, but also eased at the end of the session, to 2.92%.
“The problem today is the speed of rate appreciation: it is perceived as difficult to control and this is the short-term issue, but the market has no element which allows it to say whether the speed will slow down or stabilize”, comments Christopher Dembik, investment strategy advisor at Pictet AM.
For the analyst, this “panic movement on the bond market” has “fundamentally no immediate” reason, with investors waiting to be reassured about the monetary policy of the American central bank, which will meet in November “and by a risk of recession.
On the value side, Atos, of which Yves Bernaert, 55 (ex-Accenture Technology Europe) was appointed general manager, fell 6.70% to 5.91 euros. Built through acquisitions by its former boss Thierry Breton, the IT group has suffered heavy losses since his departure for the European Commission in 2019 and is trying to restructure its activities.
Thales dropped 1.91% to 128.60 euros at the end of the session.
The Casino group’s listing was suspended on Wednesday, “at the request of the company, pending the publication of a press release and until further notice”, according to the Euronext website.
© 2023 AFP
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