The Paris stock market ended the final session of the week down 0.34%, at 8151 points, penalized in particular by the downturn in the luxury sector, with Kering (-3.5%), LVMH (-2.3%) and Hermès (-1%).

Over the past week, the Parisian index has lost just over 0.2%, but has maintained a gain of close to 8% since the start of the year.

Against this backdrop, the temptation to take profits is high, with traders tempted to make some gains on current levels while awaiting new catalysts.

'Of course, the market will take a breather. This is necessary after the spectacular rise at the start of the year", says Christopher Dembik, Investment Strategy Advisor at Pictet AM.

"In the long term, we remain convinced that the underlying trend is upward", the analyst moderates, however.

This view is shared by Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis at IG France, who is not known for being the most bullish strategist on the Paris stock market.

According to the analyst, the Paris index still has considerable upside potential, with the psychological rather than technical 10,000-point mark in its sights.

I obviously don't think we'll go in a straight line to these levels, but they are achievable targets over the medium term", he told Cercle Finance.

While this final session of the week promises to be relatively light on economic data, investors did take note of the Ifo business climate index for Germany, which was published in the morning.
The index rose from an upwardly revised 85.7 in February to 87.8 in March, well above expectations and at its highest level since last June.

On the bond front, 10-year Bunds ended the week well, easing -7pts to 2.3250%, as did T-Bonds of the same maturity to 4.21% (-6pts).

On the currency front, the Dollar continues to climb: +0.4% to 1.081 against the Euro, which loses 0.6% over the week.

This demonstrates a very different reading of Jerome Powell's announcements on Wednesday evening: Forex traders do not seem to be buying into the narrative of an "accommodating" FED.... because 3 rate cuts instead of the 7 or 8 hoped for at the end of 2023 will ensure a yield of 5% for another two quarters.

In French company news, Renault Group and Volvo Group announce the creation of Flexis SAS, a joint venture for the creation of electric vans.

TotalEnergies announces the start-up of production at the Tyra offshore complex in the Danish North Sea, following the completion of a major redevelopment project.

Lastly, Orpea announced last night that it had completed the reverse split of its share capital as part of its financial restructuring.
The retirement home operator, which this week announced its intention to change its name to emeis, said that 1,000 old shares with a par value of 0.01 euros had been exchanged for one new share with a par value of ten euros.


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