(News Bulletin 247) – The CAC 40 ended a shortened session this Tuesday, December 24 with an increase of 0.14%. Renault rose 1.8%, benefiting from Nissan’s 6% increase on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Paris Stock Exchange ended on a good note this Tuesday, December 24, before a two-day break. The CAC 40, which had a shortened session with a closing shortly after 2 p.m., gained 0.14% to 7,282.69 points, in starving volumes. The Paris Stock Exchange will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, due to Christmas celebrations.

Investors took note of the announcement of a new government in France on Monday evening. The team of Prime Minister François Bayrou is notably made up of Éric Lombard, appointed Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. He was previously general manager of the Caisse des Dépôts. Éric Lombard previously managed the insurers BNP Paribas Cardif and Generali France.

“The challenges, which are innumerable, require us to address our endemic evil, the deficit, and its consequence on the debt,” he declared Monday evening.

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Renault in the wake of Nissan

Amélie de Montchalin, an economist by training, was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts.

“Perhaps the market is saying that it is better to have a government than no government, which can be reflected somewhat in the rise in the CAC 40. But we see that this signal, certainly positive, remains minor, given the lack of reaction from the euro”, judges Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis at IG France.

The euro actually moved little Monday evening after the appointment of the new government. This Tuesday it fell 0.1% against the dollar to 1.0397 dollars.

“At European level we see that investors do not consider this a ‘game changer’. It is a slight relief but the market will pay when it sees. It is therefore not granting a blank check to the new government and will take the temperature with the first negotiations It takes a lot more than that for the CAC 40 to be reassured,” explains Alexandre Baradez.

On the value side, variations were limited on the CAC 40. Eurofins posted the largest increase (+1.9%) ahead of Renault which gained 1.8%. The diamond group was buoyed by Nissan’s 6% increase on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with Renault still holding 35.7% of the Japanese manufacturer’s capital.

BNP Paribas gained 0.17%, Crédit Agricole SA lost 0.9% and Société Générale fell 0.45%. In a sector note, Royal Bank of Canada raised its price targets on the three establishments and reiterated its preference for BNP Paribas.

Oil is rising a bit. The February contract on North Sea Brent advanced 0.7% to $72.83 per barrel while that of February on WTI listed in New York gained 0.8% to $69.78 per barrel.