France’s CAC 40 is bobbling along in a narrow range today, currently flat on Tuesday’s close. The index had opened up but lost that ground over the first hour of trading below dipping slightly below the break-even line and then recovering. It’s been holding relatively flat for the past two hours now and doesn’t look particularly likely to break significantly up or down before the end of the day’s session.
Data on the consumer confidence index showed that the December reading remained equal to that of November, at 99.0, holding at its highest level for more than 9 years. While November’s reading had been slightly ahead of forecasts for 98.0, December came in on the nose with expectations.
Among the CAC’s individual constituents, financials have been doing well, as has been the general trend globally today. BNP Paribas is up 1.63% and Credit Agricole 0.69%, though Societe Generale has bucked the trend and is currently 0.2% down. Insurer AXA is up 1.06%.
Tyre manufacturer Michelin is the session’s biggest faller heading into the final straight, down 2.49%. The automotive sector is another seeing a general trend in global equities today, this time a negative one. Valeo, the automotive supplier, is the day’s second sharpest faller with a loss of 2.33%. Renault is down 1.37% and Peugeot 0.74%.
The day’s biggest gainer is looking like being hotels group Accor, currently up 2.08%. The company is said to be focusing on the expansion of its luxury brands in 2017, following a string of acquisitions in 4 and 5 star categories. Mobile network operator Orange is up 0.79% and mass media conglomerate Vivendi 0.83%. The company is in the midst of what has been described as an aggressive takeover bid for Italy’s Berlusconi-family controlled Mediaset.