CAC 40 Rises Nearly 0.7%

(RTTNews) - The French stock market gained notable ground in positive territory on Wednesday as oil prices dropped after U.S. President Donald Trump said the war with Iran will end "very quickly."

Brent crude futures dropped to $108.50 a barrel before recovering to $109.11, still down nearly 2%.

Investors also digested Euro zone inflation data, and looked ahead to Nvidia earnings update.

The CAC 40 was up 54.23 points or 0.68% at 8,035.99 about half an hour past noon.

Euronext moved up over 5%. STMicroelectronics climbed nearly 5%. ArcelorMittal gained 3.5% and Legrand rallied 2.5%.

Stellantis climbed nearly 1% before easing slightly. The automotive giant announced plans to form a Europe-based joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd to produce new energy vehicles.

Schneider Electric, Sanofi, Safran and TotalEnergies gained 1.3%-1.7%. Societe Generale, Engie, Thales, Eiffage, Accor, Saint Gobain and Air Liquide moved up 0.6%-1.1%.

Capgemini drifted down nearly 2%. Renault and Hermes International shed 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. L'Oreal, AXA, BNP Paribas, Orange, Danone and Publicis Groupe also showed weakness.

On the trade front, the European Union has reached a provisional agreement to remove import duties on U.S. goods, keeping the bloc on track to meet Trump's July 4 deadline and avoid higher tariffs on European goods.

Final data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation accelerated in April, as initially estimated, driven by higher energy prices. The harmonized index of consumer prices posted an annual increase of 3% in April, up from 2.6% in March. The rate matched the estimate published on April 30.

Meanwhile, core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, softened to 2.2% in April, as estimated, from 2.3% in the previous month.

Among main components of HICP, energy registered the biggest annual growth of 10.8%. This was followed by the 3% rise in services costs. Food, alcohol and tobacco prices rose 2.4% and non-energy industrial goods prices gained 0.8%.

On a monthly basis, the HICP climbed 1.0% in April, in line with flash estimate.