CAC 40 Hits Fresh Record High

(RTTNews) - The CAC 40 benchmark that tracks the 40 largest French stocks based on the Euronext Paris rose to all-time high on Friday. Markets shrugged off lingering worries about the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Sentiment remained positive despite a lower-than-expected manufacturing PMI as well as a higher-than-expected services PMI reading in February.

The index has gained close to 1 percent on Thursday while the one-year change exceeds 4.2 percent.

CAC 40 is currently trading at 8,466.86, adding 0.81 percent from the previous close of 8,398.78. The day's trading has been between 8,421.11 and an all-time high of 8,476.61.

Amidst the upbeat mood, only 9 scrips in the 40-stock index are trading below the flatline.

Amidst earnings boost, Air Liquide topped gains with an addition of almost 4 percent. Euronext followed with gains of 3.2 percent. LVMH, Pernod Ricard, Saint Gobain, Renault, Hermes International, Societe Generale, all recorded gains of more than 2 percent.

Orange posted the biggest decline of 1.2 percent. TotalEnergies as well as Danone also recorded losses of more than 1 percent.

With safe haven demand dragging down bond yields globally, bond yields in France too have decreased. Yields on France's 10-year bonds dropped 0.39 percent to 3.306 percent, versus the level of 3.319 percent at the previous close. Yields ranged between 3.318 percent and 3.302 percent in the day's trading, touching a six-month low.

With the U.S. Dollar weakening, the 6-currency Dollar Index is currently at 97.90, edging down 0.03 percent from the previous close of 97.93. The EUR/USD pair has slipped 0.03 percent to 1.1768. The pair ranged between 1.1776 and 1.1744. The EUR/GBP pair is trading at 0.8733, dropping 0.10 percent below the flatline. The EUR/JPY pair has rallied 0.14 percent to trade at 182.75.