(RTTNews) - French stocks drifted lower on Monday as tensions in the Middle East, rising oil prices and fears of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve rendered the mood bearish.
Recent data showing stronger-than-expected non-farm payroll growth in the U.S. has raised concerns the Federal Reserve will hike interest rate this year.
Amid fresh strikes by Israel on Iranian military targets, oil prices rose sharply today. Brent crude futures climbed to over $98 a barrel before easing to $97.19, still up as much as 4.4% over previous close.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 38.17 points or 0.47% at 8,180.05 at noon.
Air Liquide tanked 9.5%. Safran lost about 2%. Stellantis, Legrand, Saint-Gobain, Carrefour, Eiffage, Kering, Bureau Veritas, Schneider Electric, Vinci, Michelin, Societe Generale, EssilorLuxottica and Hermes International fell 0.8%-1.6%.
Airbus drifted down 2.1%. The aerospace and defense major has been informing some customers of delays on A320neo series jets, which are due to be delivered in 2027 and 2028, Bloomberg News reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bouygues shed 1.7% and Orange gained about 1% after the companies announced the signing of a pact with Altice France for the acquisition of SFR1.
Pernod Ricard, TotalEnergies, Capgemini, STMicroelectronics and Dassault Systemes gained 0.7%-1%. Publicis Groupe and Danone posted modest gains.
In economic news, Eurozone's Sentix investor confidence improved to -13.4 in June from -16.4 in May, data from behavioral research institute Sentix showed.
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