(RTTNews) - French stocks climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a second straight day, after U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a temporary pause in strike against Iran raised hopes of a potential deal between the two warring nations.
Trump, who said there was a "very good chance" the United States could reach an agreement with Iran to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, however added that a major offensive will take place if no acceptable agreement is reached soon.
The French benchmark CAC 40, which advanced to 8,053.78 earlier, was up 63.95 points or 0.8% at 8,051.44 a few minutes past noon.
Capgemini, Dassault Systemes and Publicis Groupe gained 4.8%, 4.3% and 4.1%, respectively. Thales moved up 3.4% and Eurofins Scientific climbed 2.1%.
Orange advanced by 1.8%, while Airbus, EssilorLuxottica, Danone, Hermes International, Euronext, Bureau Veritas, Safran and ArcelorMittal gained 1%-1.5%.
Sanofi gained about 0.8%. The drumaker said a trial showed its rare disease therapy performed better in raising key lung protein in patients with a genetic form of lung disease.
Renault dropped by about 1.4%, while STMicroelectronics and Michelin shed 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
