(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Bourse has resumed its forward march, offering the CAC 40 the opportunity to set new records. The flagship barometer of the Parisian market closed up 0.5% at 7,533.63 points.

Monday’s little breath will have been beneficial. Taking advantage of an acceleration in Chinese growth at the start of the year, the Paris Stock Exchange found the energy it needed to tackle new heights on Tuesday.

The CAC 40 closed up 0.47% at 7,533.63 points (a record), after a historic peak in session at 7,559.35 shortly before 3:00 p.m.

Luxury stocks supported the rebound of the Parisian index, as they are sensitive to the health of the world’s second largest economy. And the latter is doing well, to the surprise of the market. Over the first three months of the year, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.5% over one year according to the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS), benefiting from the total lifting of the draconian measures taken by the country as part of its “zero-Covid” policy.

Economists polled by AFP were counting on an increase limited to 3.8%. “The transition [d’une économie “zéro Covid” à la réouverture, NDLR] was probably not set to be smooth, but most of the data observed in recent months suggests that it has been relatively successful,” dissects Craig Erlam of Oanda.

“However, data released on Tuesday also underscores how uneven the recovery has been. The consumer has done the heavy lifting and it’s that outperformance in March – retail sales rose 10.6%, beating expectations. – which made it possible” to reach these good figures, he nuances. The market analyst notes that industrial production and investment, other components of GDP, have on the contrary disappointed expectations.

Market operators are also taking note of the surprise deterioration in the ZEW index, which measures investor confidence in Germany, which fell to 4.1 in April from 13 in March. Information that has been relegated to the background.

Vivendi tops the CAC 40, driven by speculation

Bolloré rose by 5.3%, driven by signs of interest from the shipowner CMA CGM for its transport and logistics branch. This potential sale revives speculation a little more on a takeover bid by Groupe Bolloré on Vivendi, which ends at the top of the Parisian index (+6.3%) on Tuesday evening.

Luxury stocks are benefiting from positive signals from China: Hermès gained 1.8%, Kering +0.7% and LVMH rose by 0.45%.

Excluding the flagship index, Orpea recorded a new rise (+9.3%) while minority shareholders representing more than 5.5% of the capital published a press release to demand the holding of a general meeting and contest the heavy plan of restructuring of the company.

Abivax soared by 23.3% driven by convincing results for its flagship molecule aimed at treating ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory disease that affects the rectum and often the colon.

On the downside, the veterinary laboratory Virbac limited its decline to 1.8% after publishing a decline in sales in the first three of the year.

Catana, for its part, lost 5.6% after announcing that it was having difficulty obtaining supplies of engines while demand for its boats is not weakening.

On the other markets, the euro recovered 0.3% against the dollar at 1.0961 dollar. Oil contracts are moving forward again. The North Sea Brent contract gained 0.3% to 85.09 dollars a barrel while the WTI contract listed in New York for June rose 0.6% to 81.28 dollars a barrel.