(News Bulletin 247) – The Paris Stock Exchange ends down for its first session of 2024, marking a break after a good year in 2023. The CAC 40 closes down 0.16%.

A false start. The Paris Stock Exchange ended this first session of the year down 0.16% to 7,530.86 points this Tuesday. And yet the flagship Parisian index was willing to extend the festivities with an increase of 0.89% at the day’s high, but macroeconomic data and the rise in bond rates came to play spoilsport.

In the morning, investors learned of a deterioration in manufacturing activity in France in December. The final HCOB PMI index for the manufacturing sector in France stood at 42.1 in December, after 42.9 in November and a first estimate of 42. This is its lowest level since May 2020. Remember that the threshold of 50 marks the border between expansion and contraction of activity.

A little earlier in the day, operators in Hong Kong and Shanghai reacted to the publication on Saturday of a greater contraction than expected in Chinese industrial activity in December.

And as with every first session of the year, activity on the financial markets is reduced to a bare minimum in the absence of many operators. The volumes bear witness to this desertion with only 2.3 billion euros exchanged.

On Wall Street, it is also time for a break for this first session of the year on the other side of the Atlantic. It must be said that the major American indices have enjoyed a good series of nine weeks of increases in a row.

Caution on the markets can also be explained by a rise in bond rates. The 10-year French government bond rate increased to 2.607%, compared to 2.56% on Friday. The American 10-year bond rose to 3.932%, compared to 3.88% on Friday.

On the macroeconomic front, the agenda will fill up during the week, with the publication on Friday of the monthly employment report in the United States like every first Friday of the month.

Oil values ​​on the rise

In this first session of the year 2024, two sectors stand out on the Paris Stock Exchange. The oil sector already, supported by the rebound in black gold prices after new attacks in the Red Sea and the renewed tensions in the Middle East. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in March, soared by 2.2% to $78.76, while its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in February, recovered. also 2.2% to 73.25 dollars. Heavyweight of the rating, Totalenergies increased by 1.9% while Vallourec gained 1.35% and Technip Energies appreciated by 1.4% this Tuesday.

Maurel & Prom escaped the rise, and plunged by more than 8%, while the interim Gabonese president exercised the right of pre-emption for the takeover of the company Assala Energiy Holdings, to the detriment of the French oil company.

Automotive stocks were also in demand thanks to the good figures published for the French market in 2023.

Renault gained 1.15%, Stellantis limited its gains to 0.1%. Automotive equipment manufacturers are not left out: Valeo appreciated by 1.7%, while Forvia gained 0.4%.

Danone gained 1.5%. The agri-food group announced on Tuesday that it had sold Horizon Organic and Wallaby, its two American brands of organic products, to an investment fund.

On the other hand, luxury was struggling this Tuesday, undermined by the latest statistics from China. Kering returned 1.5%, LVMH 1.4% while Hermes lost 1.1%. Spirits groups, well exposed in the country, also suffered, such as Rémy Cointreau (-2.7%) or Pernod Ricard (-2.6%).

On the foreign exchange market, the euro was down 0.9% at $1.0955.