PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets showed slight variations on Wednesday morning, the market being without clear direction in the absence of Wall Street, closed for a public holiday, while the recent rise in indices calls for caution.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.28% to 7,607.26 points around 07:50 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 fell by 0.27% and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell by 0.19%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index dropped 0.23%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.08%. The Stoxx 600 gains 0.07%.

On Wall Street, the market is closed for “Juneteenth”, the date commemorating the abolition of slavery in 1865, which limits trading volumes on other open financial markets.

In terms of economic indicators, British inflation returned to 2% in May for the first time in almost three years. This statistic should be welcomed by the Bank of England (BoE) which meets on Thursday but, according to experts, it is unlikely that it will decide to lower its key rates. Financial markets believe that a first monetary easing is more likely in September or October.

On the bond market, the rate gap between the ten-year German Bund and the French OAT of the same maturity is around 75 basis points compared to 82.34 points on Friday, a sign of an allaying of fears linked to the legislative elections French on June 30 and July 7.

The trend could, however, change as France is expected to be placed under excessive deficit procedure by the European Commission during the day.

On the stock market in Europe, the new technologies index (-0.23%) is not benefiting from the surge in Nvidia, which has become the world’s largest market capitalization amid the craze for artificial intelligence (AI). The health sector (-0.35%) is also suffering, while that of transport and leisure (+0.64%) is well oriented with the increase in Barclays’ recommendation on Accor (+2.26%) to “overweight”.

Société Générale (-0.86%) does not benefit from the announcement of the sale of its neobank Shine to the Danish group Ageras. However, the European banking sector (+0.29%) is still in demand after the sharp decline linked to political risk in France. Barclays analysts maintained their positive view on European banks on Wednesday, betting on positive profit dynamics through 2026 and strong capital and returns levels.

Vodafone gained 0.73% with the announcement of the sale of a stake of nearly 18% in the Indian company Indus Towers for an amount of up to two billion dollars.

The German solar energy components group SMA Solar Technology fell 31.45% after a warning on its annual profit.

(Written by Claude Chendjou)

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