by Claude Chendjou
PARIS (Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Thursday, but without much conviction, in the absence of participants in the American markets, closed for Thanksgiving while Friday’s session in New York will be shortened.
The positive trend was driven by cheap purchases, particularly in the oil and gas sector, which has been in decline for two sessions.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.24% to 7,277.93 points. The British Footsie advanced by 0.19% and the German Dax by 0.23%.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index gained 0.30% despite the victory of Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV) in the Dutch legislative elections.
The EuroStoxx 50 index increased by 0.21%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.28%. The Stoxx 600, which hit a two-month high on Wednesday, gained 0.27%.
The publication of Eurozone PMI indices which showed that private sector activity in the bloc remained in negative territory in November did not shake market enthusiasm. Analysts noted that the PMI figures were less bad than expected, a sign that the slowdown in the euro zone economy could begin to ease.
In Great Britain, activity returned to growth in November.
On the monetary policy side, the minutes of the last meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) showed that an increase in rates remained possible without being the base scenario of the Frankfurt institution.
Traders expect the cost of credit in the euro zone to fall by 90 basis points in 2024.
VALUES
The oil and gas compartment (+1.29%) recorded one of the best sectoral performances of the Stoxx 600, notably with a gain of 1.55% for TotalEnergies and 1.57% for BP.
On the SBF 120, the poultry meat specialist LDC gained 3.92% after raising its annual forecasts.
Novo Nordisk, the largest European capitalization, advanced 1.01% after the announcement of an investment of 2.1 billion euros in France to stimulate the production of drugs against obesity.
On the downside, Virgin Money fell 6.52% due to an annual profit below consensus, while Spanish utility group Endesa dropped 2.38% after lowering its annual profit forecast
CHANGES
The euro gained 0.17%, to 1.0906 dollars in a volatile session where the markets were closed in the United States and Japan.
The pound sterling stands at $1.2531, up 0.31% after its sharp fall the day before linked to the presentation of the British budget.
The Swedish crown dropped 0.28% to 11.442 against the euro after the decision of the central bank of Sweden to leave its main key rate unchanged, at 4.00%.
RATE
The yield on the ten-year German Bund, the benchmark for the entire euro zone, ended with a gain of around six points, at 2.618%, but was at a 12-year high of 3.024% in early October.
The yield on the ten-year British Gilt rose by more than eight basis points, to 4.25%, after the publication of the PMI indices in Great Britain. The market is now counting on a rate cut from the Bank of England in September and no longer in August.
OIL
Oil prices fell again on Thursday, still penalized by the unexpected postponement of the OPEC+ meeting to November 30, fueling speculation that the organization might not further reduce its production quotas next year due to differences between his members.
Brent fell by 0.83% to $81.28 per barrel and American light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) by 1.05% to $76.29.
(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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