CAC Moves In Tight Range In Lackluster Trade; Renault Tanks Over 17%

(RTTNews) - French stocks are largely subdued on Wednesday, weighed down by worries about trade due to tariffs, and weak earnings updates from semiconductor major ASML Holding and French automaker Renault.

The benchmark CAC 40, moving in a tight range between 7,736.17 and 7,774.44, was up 6.87 points or 0.09% at 7,773.08 a few minutes ago.

Renault is down more than 17% after the company issued a profit warning reported first-half figures that fell short of expectations.

The automaker's first-half revenue came in at €27.6 billion, broadly in line with expectations. However, the operating margin came in at 6%, which was about 12% below consensus.

Renault now expects an operating margin of around 6.5% for the full-year, down from at least 7% previously, and cut its forecast for automotive free cash flow to €1-1.5 billion, from a prior target of at least €2 billion.

Stellantis is down 4% after the carmaker scrapped its hydrogen fuel cell technology program and said it would no longer launch a range of hydrogen-powered vehicles this year due to factors such as limited availability of hydrogen-refueling infrastructure.

ArcelorMittal, Kering and Edenred are down 1.9 to 2.5%. STMicroelectronics, Saint Gobain, LVMH, Schneider Electric, Unibail Rodamco, Michelin and Legrand are down with moderate losses.

Among the gainers, EssilorLuxottica is up 1.8%, Hermes International is climbing 1.2% and Sanofi is up 1.1%. Orange, TotalEnergies, Airbus, Publicis Groupe, Bureau Veritas and BNP Paribas are up with modest gains.