AFP, published on Thursday, March 03, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.
The Paris Stock Exchange ended down sharply by 1.84% on Thursday, suffering the blow following disappointing economic statistics in the United States, and while market nervousness is exacerbated by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
The star CAC 40 index lost 119.65 points to 6,378.37 points, the lowest since July 20, 2021. The day before, it had rebounded 1.59%, following a fall of nearly 4% on Tuesday.
The Parisian rating had remained close to its level the day before until mid-followingnoon, experiencing a respite following the very high volatility sessions of the last few days, a “day of consolidation”, notes Raphaël Thuin, head of strategies of Tikehau Capital’s capital markets.
The lull was notably allowed by “a stabilization of banking stocks, the market is beginning to better understand the Russian risk on European banks”, adds the analyst.
However for him, “the atmosphere remains extremely feverish and uncertain, we feel that the market can go in one direction or the other at any time with the slightest news from Ukraine”.
It was ultimately the publication of disappointing economic statistics in the United States that tipped the equity markets into the red. Growth in activity in services has indeed slowed in February, while analysts on the contrary expected an acceleration.
For Raphaël Thuin, it is “perhaps the market is looking a little further than Russia, and is starting to think regarding the post-crisis period”.
On the eighth day of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces, following taking their first major city, intensify their shelling of other cities, including the strategic port of Mariupol, as new talks began shortly before 4:00 p.m. .
The conflict has caused a boom in raw materials. Thursday morning the barrel of American WTI exceeded 115 dollars, unseen since 2008, while the barrel of Brent was close to 120 dollars. But by the end of the day, oil and gas prices were finally calming down.
Reassuring Technip Energies
The action of Technip Energies jumped 13.64% to 10 euros, following the announcement by the French engineering and energy services group of a “contained” financial impact of the crisis linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company has also “stopped working on any new business opportunities in Russia”.
Thales solid thanks to the defense
The production of defense equipment once once more drove the activity of the French group Thales in 2021, whose net profit more than doubled over the year. Its action, which has already progressed a lot since the start of the war in Ukraine, took 3.79% to 106.80 euros.
Societe Generale wants to reassure on its exposure to Russia
Societe Generale bank assured that it might “absorb the consequences” of a scenario of loss of control of its subsidiary in Russia Rosbank, whose activities represented 2.8% of its total net banking income (equivalent to its turnover). ) in 2021. Its title lost 0.75% to 23.13 euros while BNP Paribas took 1.59% to 50.76 euros and Crédit Agricole 0.22% to 10.76 euros.
Engie and Publicis at the bottom of the CAC 40
The energy group Engie, which co-financed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, said it was exposed to a maximum “credit risk” of 987 million euros on this controversial project, affected by sanctions following the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Its action lost 6.26% to 11.32 euros.
Publicis shares lost 6.70% to 52.68 euros. The French communications giant, however, recorded record results in 2021.
