On the eve of a Fed meeting, the Paris Bourse closed Monday down 1.66%, mainly weighed down by Chinese indicators that bode ill for world trade and caught up by the bearish trend in New York on Friday.
The star CAC 40 index lost 108.16 points to 6,425.61 points. Last week ended with a decline of 0.72% of this index, which lost 1.89% during the month of April.
The Parisian rating, which had opened slightly down 1.10%, sank during the day, even losing up to 2% in the middle of the session. Like the other European markets, Paris also experienced around 08:00 GMT a fall as brutal as it was spontaneous, sinking by 3.4%.
This “flash crack” was due “to poor execution of an order given in a Nordic country”, said Harry Wolhandler, director of equity management at Meeschaert Amilton AM. A “devastating effect” Monday morning in “a day of very low volume”, “given the absence of English investors”, the place of London being closed due to a public holiday.
Among the concerns that weighed on the Parisian coast more durably, we especially noted the decline in manufacturing activity in China, which fell in April to its lowest level since February 2020 due to the confinements of major cities in the country. .
These “disappointing macroeconomic figures, which show that China is decelerating following its policy of zero Covid health restrictions” are, according to Mr. Wolhandler, half responsible for the drop accused by Paris on Monday.
But, he estimated, the French market “reacted more to the very sharp drop on Friday in the American markets” which occurred following the close of the European markets, which had ended up on the rise. “It is quite obvious that there was a bearish reaction” to this movement, which the French market had not yet caught up with.
In addition, added Mr. Wolhandler, “inflationary figures in the United States suggest that this week”, the American central bank (Federal Reserve, Fed) “will increase its key rate by 0.5 points”, leaving investors French on the defensive.
Pending this announcement, “investors are playing it safe”, especially in the face of “inflation (which) continues to cause concern in the world” and a “economic situation (which) is deteriorating”, judged for its share Franklin Pichard, of portfolio manager Kiplink.
At 4:50 p.m. GMT, the euro was still stable once morest the dollar, at 1.0519 dollars.
Misguided luxury
The luxury sector, very dependent on the Chinese market, suffered heavy losses on Monday. Kering lost 1.73%, LVMH 2.08%, Hermès 2.82% and L’Oréal 2.52%.
Banks in small form
French banks, seen as cyclical stocks that “overreact to market movements”, have been “penalized by the bear market”, said Harry Wolhandler.
At the close, Societe Generale lost 2.07%, Crédit Agricole 1.54% and BNP Paribas 1.81%.
Orpea backs down following the appointment of a new CEO
The group of private nursing homes Orpea, in turmoil since the release of a book-investigation at the end of January, announced Monday the appointment of a new general manager, from the industry sector, to lead the transformation of the group.
Its title, which has lost more than half of its value since the start of the year on the Paris Stock Exchange, fell 4.78% on Monday to 32.45 euros.
Euronext CAC40