The Paris Stock Exchange closes a turbulent week
AFP, published on Saturday, July 23, 2022 at 07:34
The Paris Stock Exchange rose 0.25% on Friday during a session punctuated by company results linked to disappointing statistics for the European economy.
The Star CAC 40 Index rose 15.71 points to 6,212.82 points. Week-to-date, the Paris market is up 3% for the third consecutive week on the uptrend.
In the euro zone, economic activity contracted in July for the first time since February 2021, according to S&P Global’s composite PMI index.
The drop in activity is most evident in Germany, while in France it has almost stagnated.
In France, the government expects the economy to slow down in the short term next year, with expected growth of 1.4% after 2.5% in 2022.
In other news of the day, inflation, which is weighing on economic activity, should stay above 2% for the long-term, according to a survey released by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The day before, the institute had announced that it would raise its three key interest rates by 50 basis points.
“European markets appear to have brushed aside these worrying signals pointing towards a slowing economy” towards recession, observes Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
Investors digested the ECB’s announcements, which also presented details of the new instrument designed to protect the most vulnerable sovereigns from speculative attacks on their debt.
This tool does not seem to have convinced the markets, according to Saxo Bank’s Christopher Dembik, who believes that “the interpretation that is beginning to make it very clear is that the institution decided to have a tool with which to Wille can deal with, which remains “an element of uncertainty” for investors.
French video games publisher Ubisoft announced a 9.8% decline in sales in the first quarter of its 2022-2023 fiscal year, as well as postponing the release of the highly-anticipated Avatar game to 2023-24, the film directed by James Cameron. The title lost 1.34% to EUR 41.10.
French hydrocarbon producer Maurel & Prom, which almost doubled its earnings in the first half thanks to rising crude prices, fell 3.99% to 4.44 euros.
Giant Total Energies is up 1.37% to €48.54.
Compagnie des Alpes reported a 22% increase in revenue for the third quarter of its financial year compared to the same period prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and confirms that it expects higher than pre-pandemic revenue for the full 2021-2022 financial year. The share closed up 3.48% to EUR 16.06.
Euronext CAC40
