The control room of Euronext, the company that manages the Paris Stock Exchange (AFP / ERIC PIERMONT)
The Paris Stock Exchange ended down 0.48% on Thursday, the penultimate session of a prosperous year, with a still empty agenda and the absence of many investors.
The flagship CAC 40 index fell 36.66 points to finish at 7,535.16 points. The day before, for the first session of the week, it finished up 0.04%.
Behind this variation, “there is no fundamental reason. There are no trading volumes, so after the upward movement since the end of October” the market was dominated on Thursday by “profit taking” and portfolio adjustments before the end of the year, according to Kévin Baslame, manager at Amplegest.
The only macroeconomic event, weekly applications for unemployment benefits in the United States increased for the second week in a row and a little more than economists’ forecasts.
The drop in the index is not enough to call into question the performance of the CAC 40 for the year, of +16.4% thanks to an acceleration since the end of October, when investors were convinced that the banks central banks will pivot towards a more flexible monetary policy in the first months of 2024.
Loan interest rates have fallen sharply since then. After reaching its lowest level of the year at the close on Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year French bond recovered slightly on Thursday, to 2.47% compared to 2.41% the day before.
The high level of the CAC 40 “is partly justified by the good performance of the global economy, particularly the American one, and taking into account the fall in interest rates”, believes Mr. Baslame.
However, “we think that the movement on rates has gone a little quickly because the market anticipates a first reduction in key interest rates from the American and European Central Banks from March”, nuances the manager.
The heads of monetary institutions have repeated that the fight against inflation is not over in their eyes, which could postpone the easing of their policy, without convincing market players.
Heavyweights weigh on the CAC
Heavyweight on the Parisian stock market, TotalEnergies fell 1.70% to 61.41 euros, the worst performance, weighing on the entire index. The company suffered from the decline in oil prices.
The main market capitalization of the index, LVMH, fell 0.60% to 731 euros.
Health in shape
Health stocks finished at the top of the index: on the CAC 40, Eurofins Scientific gained 0.41% to 59.16 euros, Sanofi 0.10% to 89.26 euros. Euroapi gained 2.68% to 5.74 euros on the broader SBF 120 index.
Euronext CAC40