PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets fell at the start of the session on Friday in a climate of risk aversion with persistent concerns about the banking sector.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 1.29% to 7,047.39 points around 08:55 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 1.08% and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 1.26%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 1.39%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.83% and the Stoxx 600 by 1.06%.

Almost all the sector indices are in the red, but it is that of the banks (-3%) which currently shows the biggest drop of the morning. Societe Generale shows the largest drop in the CAC 40, (-3.99%) ahead of BNP Paribas (-3.17%).

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank fell 7.72% after a sharp increase in the cost of insurance against the risk of default Thursday evening.

Credit Suisse and UBS lost 6.2% and 5.87% respectively. The Bloomberg agency reported that the two Swiss banks, which have been in the news for a week, are among the establishments targeted by an investigation by the United States Department of Justice to determine whether they have potentially helped Russian oligarchs to evade penalties.

This information takes precedence over the perception of a break in interest rates in the United States, over new reassuring remarks from the Secretary of the Treasury on American deposits or even over the improvement in private activity in France and Germany. this month.

The retail group Casino fell 5.22% after the rating agency Moody’s lowered its CFR rating from “B3” to “Caa1”.

Technip Energies lost 6.75%, as analysts at JPMorgan downgraded their recommendation to “neutral”.

(Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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