(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 remains relatively undecided at mid-session this Wednesday, while China published better than expected growth in the third quarter. The market continues to monitor tensions in the Middle East which are increasing and supporting crude oil prices.

The sessions follow one another and the Paris Stock Exchange has difficulty taking off. The CAC 40 nibbles 0.05% to 7033.09 points at midday this Wednesday.

The markets are integrating the relatively good figures from China published this morning. Growth for the third quarter stood at 4.9% year-on-year compared to 4.5% expected by economists.

“In addition, monthly data for September also turned out to be better than expected, with industrial production up 4.5% year-on-year (compared to +4.4% expected), and retail sales in increase of 5.5% year-on-year (compared to +4.9% expected). The unemployment rate also fell to its lowest level in 22 months, at 5.0% (compared to 5.2% expected)”, develops Deutsche Bank.

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Oil on the rise

But market confidence obviously remains weighed down by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. A missile strike killed hundreds at a hospital in Gaza. Hamas blamed this act on Israel, which for its part denies and claims to have evidence that the hospital explosion was caused by a botched shot by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

“Nevertheless, this highlights a much greater likelihood than previously estimated of a possible spread of conflict through an Israeli ground attack into Gaza, as civilian casualties will be inevitable. The next few days will be crucial for know whether the conflict will remain limited or not. Short-term caution should largely dominate,” underlines Sebastian Paris Horvitz of LBPAM.

This renewed tension is supporting oil prices. The December North Sea Brent contract rose 3.1% to $92.65 per barrel while the November WTI contract rose 3.4% to $89.57 per barrel.

As a result, the oil groups Totalenergies and Schlumberger gained 1.2% and 2.4% respectively.

As for other stocks, Worldline gained 5.6% benefiting from information from Bloomberg on a potential takeover of its Italian competitor Nexi, which highlights the low valuation of the sector on the stock market.

On foreign exchange, the euro lost 0.05% against the dollar at 1.0572 dollars.