CAC 40 Moderately Higher After Services Sector Activity Data

(RTTNews) - French stocks are up firmly in positive territory Monday morning after opening on a fairly bright note, as investors react to data showing an improvement in the nation's services sector activity in the month of December.

The benchmark CAC 40 index is up 50.18 points or 0.69% at 7,332.40.

Data from S&P Global showed that the HCOB France Composite PMI was revised up to 47.5 in December 2024, up from the flash estimate of 46.7 and above the ten-month low of 45.9 seen in November.

The HCOB France Services PMI rose to 49.3 in December 2024, up from the initial estimates of 48.2 and compared to 46.9 in the previous month.

However, the manufacturing sector contracted sharply in December with reading for the month coming in at 41.9, compared to the preliminary estimate of 43.1.

STMicroElectronics is rising nearly 5.5% after Taiwan's Foxconn posted stronger than expected revenue for the fourth quarter.

Dassault Systemes is gaining 3.5%, while Schneider Electric, Hermes International and Legrand are up 2 to 2.5%.

LVMH, Stellantis, Capgemini, Kering, Eurofins Scientific, Teleperformance, Societe Generale, Renault, BNP Paribas and Saint Gobain are up 1 to 2%.

Safran, Publicis Groupe, Thales and Engie are down 1 to 1.2%. Airbus Group, Danone, ArcelorMittal, AXA, Accor, Bouygues and Carrefour are with modest losses.