(News Bulletin 247) – The Parisian index is rising mid-session this Wednesday, in a sluggish market in terms of movement.

Will the CAC 40 manage to end the year above 7,600 points? This is almost the only question to ask in this period of trading days stuck between Christmas and New Year and marked by very little news.

The Parisian index rose 0.2% at mid-session this Wednesday, to 7583.90 points, after four days of break (European stock markets are closed on December 25 and 26 to celebrate Christmas). Volumes were starving, with 394 million shares traded at the end of the morning.

The overall trend remains positive for the time being, supported by the decline in bond rates. The yield on the 10-year German sovereign bond stands at 1.928% compared to 1.964% on Friday evening. But the low liquidity and the opening of Wall Street at 3:30 p.m. could very well cause a sudden change in trend during the session.

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Oil is catching its breath

On the value side, the low volumes and the drop in rates are reflected in the jump in shares being scrapped, such as Casino (+15.8%), Orpea (+10.5%) or Clariane (formerly Korian, which takes 3%).

Oil and oil services groups are benefiting from the rise in oil prices, with a barrel of Brent having crossed the $80 mark on Tuesday. CGG advances by 5.2% while Vallourec takes 1.4%. Vallourec also announced the sale of land in Germany for an amount of 39 million euros.

On other markets, the euro advanced 0.1% to 1.1058 dollars. Oil is taking a breath this Wednesday after having increased significantly the day before, due to continued attacks in the Red Sea. The February contract on Brent from the North Sea lost 0.7% to 80.28 dollars while that of the same maturity on WTI listed in New York lost 0.8% to 74.98 dollars per barrel.