European shares were supported by mining and steel stocks this week, as well as spillover sentiment from November’s performance.
ADVERTISEMENTEuropean stock markets were still basking in November’s glow on Friday as shares saw the best month since January this year. Mining and steel stocks were especially buoyant, following an unexpected uptick in Chinese manufacturing sector data.
With Eurozone inflation slowly coming down, more speculation about the European Central Bank (ECB) potentially cutting interest rates earlier than expected have also surfaced. Now, investors think that we could see rate cuts as early as April this year. However, the ECB and the Bank of England have consistently highlighted that it is still too early to think of loosening policy at the moment.
The CAC 40 index inched up 0.87% to €7,336 this week, while the STOXX 600 climbed 0.47% to €463.8. The FTSE 100 index also saw a weekly gain of 0.23% to £7,500.6 on Friday afternoon.
CAC 40 top weekly gainers
Worldline SA saw a rise of 9.60% this week, buoyed by Credit Agricole’s interest in increasing its stake in the company, to help stabilize Worldline a little more.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield saw an increase of 8.81%, as shares continued to receive a boost from the Polygone Riviera sale to property developer Frey.
Stellantis gained 6.74%, as the company bought back shares worth around €934 million from Dongfeng.
STMicroelectronics inched up 4.68%, in response to the company collaborating with indie Semiconductor, in order to improve security and in-vehicle wireless charging.
ArcelorMittal jumped 4.16%, boosted by Spanish arm, ArcelorMittal Asturias’ plans to implement an electric-arc furnace, to be one step closer to the company’s decarbonisation goals.
CAC 40 top weekly losers
Alstom slid 6.74% following the company announcing that it would be approximately two years late in delivery IC5 trains to Danish railway operator DSB.
Pernod Ricard fell 4.09%, as the company announced that it would be appointing Conor McQuaid as the North American business arm CEO.
Kering slipped 3.8%, following the company securing a 30% stake in Valentino.
Teleperfomance inched lower 2.9%, after the company recently bought a 39.5% stake in Majorel, a staff outsourcing company.
LVMH weakened 2.19%, following Morgan Stanley slashing the company’s rating from “overweight” to “equal weight”, the first cut in about 6 years. This was largely due to more concerns about demand in the luxury goods sector, due to higher cost of living and interest rates.
