The Paris Stock Exchange ended stable (+0.02%) on the eve of the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), the weak growth prospects and the energy crisis still occupying the minds of investors.
The flagship CAC 40 index rose 1.31 points to 6,105.92 points in an average trading volume of 2.7 billion euros. The day before, it had timidly rebounded by 0.19%.
The Parisian rating spent most of the session in the red before making up for its losses at the end of the day.
The markets were supported by the fall in interest rates on the government debt market. This comes after three weeks of sharp gains as investors had to come to terms with the idea that central banks are determined to continue their monetary tightening to fight inflation.
During its meeting expected on Thursday, the ECB should ratify a rise in its key rates of 75 basis points, a movement that is extremely rare in its strength to pull the euro zone out of an equally extreme rise in prices (9.1% on one year in August).
“In terms of communication, the work has been done. The message is that it must fight against inflation”, judge Florian Allain, equity manager at Mandarine Gestion. The fight against rising prices is favored by officials of the European Institution, despite the signs of the economy running out of steam and the difficulties caused by gas and electricity prices.
After a rising summer, the Paris Stock Exchange returned to close to its lowest level for the year.
“Few people want to invest now,” said Mr. Allain, before the slowdown in activity is reflected in macroeconomic figures and company accounts and as a winter of high energy tension approaches.
Engie leaps, TotalEnergies plunges
On the stock market, energy tensions have caused the greatest variations within the CAC 40. Engie took 4.93% to 12.72 euros, while Brussels presented on Wednesday its ways to reduce the energy bills of Europeans, proposing to cap the revenues of nuclear and renewable electricity generators. But the ceiling “would be higher than that initially envisaged”, explains Mr. Allain.
Conversely, TotalEnergies fell 3.70% to 49.80 euros, driven by the further fall in oil prices on Wednesday, Brent falling below 90 dollars for the first time since February.
Ubisoft in multiplayer mode with Tencent
The founders of the French video game champion Ubisoft, the Guillemot family, sealed a union on Tuesday with the Chinese group Tencent, which takes 49.9% of the capital of the family holding company, to keep control of the publisher originally “Rayman” or “Assassin’s Creed” series.
On the stock market, the price deflated by 17.24% to 36 euros. Since the beginning of the year, investors have been speculating on a takeover of the group, like the major operations in the video game sector since the beginning of the year. Ubisoft’s share price has lost 16% since December 31.
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