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Paris (AFP) – The Paris Bourse ended up 1.34% on Friday, despite the determination of central banks to tighten their monetary policy in the face of inflation, rebounding following three sessions of decline without managing to save its week.
The CAC 40 index gained 86.54 points to 6,548.22 points, following falling 0.57% on Thursday. But over the week, it recorded a loss of 2.04%, slightly more than its European neighbors due to concerns over the outcome of the French presidential election.
The minutes of the US central bank’s last monetary meeting detailed its firm intention to fight inflation by accelerating rate hikes and starting to reduce its balance sheet as early as May.
“It seems that the US central bank is ready to risk lower growth to reduce inflation expectations,” which weighed on equity markets, said Frederic Rollin, investment strategy advisor at Pictet AM.
In Europe too, voices for a tougher policy are being heard within the European Central Bank, which will hold its next monetary policy meeting on Thursday.
Frédéric Rollin believes that the “ECB will adjust to American monetary policy”, with “one or two rate hikes in 2022, but there is no urgency because the indicators show that the risk that inflation settles down is moderate”.
Investors are also watching the polls for the presidential election, the first round of which takes place on Sunday. Twice this week, the Parisian rating was weighed down by concerns resulting from the narrowing of the gap between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in voting intentions.
Consequence on the markets: the CAC 40 lost a little more ground than the Frankfurt or Milan stock exchanges, and the difference between the French interest rate and that on the German loan, another signal scrutinized to estimate the nervousness of the investors, widened a little on Tuesday before stabilizing.
On Friday, the interest rate for the French 10-year loan advanced by three basis points, to 1.257%.
On the values front, Crédit Agricole (-0.02% to 9.89 euros) announced Thursday that it had acquired a 9.18% stake in the capital of the Italian bank Banco BPM, the third largest in the country, i.e. a operation of nearly 380 million euros.
The bank was the only banking stock in the red, while Societe Generale took 1.82% to 21.87 euros and BNP Paribas 2.76% to 47.85 euros, supported by rising interest rates.
Alstom, for its part, finished at the top of the CAC 40 (+5.43% to 20.77 euros) despite a deterioration in the recommendation of Citigroup, according to Bloomberg.
© 2022 AFP
