French Stocks Shed Ground On Inflation Concerns

(RTTNews) - French stocks shed ground on Friday, retreating after two successive days of gains, as concerns about inflation and fears of policy tightening by some major central banks rendered the mood cautious.

A survey by the European Central Bank showed Euro Zone consumers nudged up their inflation expectations last month.

The ECB survey showed median expectations for inflation over the next twelve months increased to 3% from 2.9% in July.

Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points and warned that underlying inflation could exceed its 2% target amid rising wage and price expectations.

Oil's retreat amid easing supply concerns appeared to be limiting market's downside.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 60.05 points or 0.73% at 8,126.88 a little over half an hour past noon.

Orange dropped by about 5%. Renault drifted lower by about 2.3% and Hermes International eased by about 2.1%.

BNP Paribas, Danone, AXA, Bouygues and Stellantis shed 1.6%-2%. LVMH, EssilorLuxottica, Engie, Carrefour, TotalEnergies and Credit Agricole lost 1%-1.4%.

ArcelorMittl, L'Oreal, Capgemini, Veolia Environment, Kering, Unibail Rodamco, Safran, Air Liquide and Saint-Gobain lost 0.5%-1%.

STMicroelectronics climbed more than 2.5% as tech stocks rallied after Nvidia CEO's positive update about chip sales.

Eurofins Scientific moved up 1.3%. Thales, Dassault Systemes, Legrand and Airbus posted moderate gains.