CAC 40 Down Nearly 0.5%

(RTTNews) - France's equity benchmark CAC 40 drifted lower on Monday with investors assessing geopolitical situation and awaiting fresh lead from the domestic front.

While renewing its threats of military action against Iran if Hezbollah continues its attacks on Israel, the U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran and the US have made encouraging progress in negotiations to reach a final peace agreement within 60 days.

The CAC 40, which eased to 8,353.06 earlier, was down 38.39 points or 0.46% at 8,382.75 a few minutes ago.

Hermes International dropped about 4.7%. Sanofi shed 3.1%, while EssilorLuxottica, Pernod Ricard, Renault and LVMH lost 2%-2.5%.

Thales, Publicis Groupe, Capgemini, Eiffage, Bureau Veritas, Stellantis, Orange, Veolia Environment, Saint Gobain, Kering and Dassault Systemes declined 0.9%-1.9%.

Among the gainers, Carrefour climbed 2.3% and STMicroelectronics moved up 2.2%. Societe Generale gained 1.2%, while Legrand, Air Liquide and Engie gained 0.5%-0.9%.

Danone moved up 0.6% after announcing that it has entered into efinitive agreements to acquire MADE Group, expanding its presence in the fast-growing healthy nutrition space in Asia Pacific.