CAC 40 Modestly Lower As Stocks Extend Decline To 3rd Session

(RTTNews) - French stocks are exhibiting weakness on Friday, extending recent declines, as investors continue to stay wary of making significant moves amid rising fears of a global trade war following the U.S. President's new tariff moves.

The market is also reacting to the latest batch of domestic and regional economic data.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 30.84 points or 0.39% at 7,959.27 a few minutes ago. The index had dropped to 7,921.71 earlier in the session.

Edenred is down nearly 4%. Renault, Societe Generale, Dassault Systemes, STMicroElectronics, Hermes International, Schneider Electric, Thales, Stellantis, Kering, Capgemini, Saint Gobain, Airbus, Legrand, Safran and Essilor are down 1 to 2.5%.

Eurofins Scientific is gaining about 1.6%. Sanofi is rising 1.5%, while Unibail Rodamco and Carrefour are both up nearly 1%.

Orange, L'Oreal, Danone, Engie and Pernod Ricard are up with modest gains.

Shares of video game maker Ubisoft are up more than 8% after Chinese gaming studio Tencent agreed to invest about 1.16 billion Euros (Approximately 1.3 billion USD) for a 25% stake in its subsidiary.

Data from statistical office INSEE showed the annual inflation rate in France remained unchanged at 0.8% in March, staying at its lowest level since February 2021, according to preliminary estimates.

Consumer prices in France rose 0.2% month-on-month in March 2025, following a period of stagnation.

The EU-harmonised annual inflation rate in France was unchanged at 0.9% in March 2025, the same as in February and below forecasts of 1.1%, preliminary estimates showed. The EU-harmonised CPI in France increased 0.2% month-over-month in March 2025, compared to 0.1% in February and forecasts of 0.3%, preliminary estimates showed.

Data showed that producer prices in France fell 0.8% in February, after a 0.6% rise in January.