French Stocks Turning In Mixed Performance

(RTTNews) - French stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday as investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings updates, and the latest batch of regional economic data, while continuing to follow the developments on the Middle East war front.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 9.25 points or 0.11% at 8,165.68 a little while ago.

L'Oreal climbed nearly 8% after the company reported its fastest quarterly growth in two years. The company reported first-quarter sales of 12.15 billion euros, up 3.6% from 11.73 billion euros last year. On a like-for-like basis, revenues were up 7.6% for the quarter.

STMicroelectronics gained 6.5% on strong quarterly results.

Dassault Systemes moved up 4.5%. Orange gained 3.2% after lifting a key earnings metric for the full year.

Sanofi gained nearly 3% after reporting better-than-expected revenue and operating income for the first quarter.

Renault gained more than 1% after Q1 sales beat forecasts. Aerospace and defense group Safran gained 1 percent after first-quarter revenue came in above expectations.

Bureau Veritas advanced 1.3%. Euronext, TotalEnergies, Bouygues, Hermes International and Stellantis posted moderate gains.

EssilorLuxottica fell 4.7%. Capgemini drifted down by about 3%, while ArcelorMittal, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas lost 2.1%-2.7%.

Carrefour, Eurofins Scientific, Legrand, Kering, Accor, Credit Agricole and Schneider Electric lost 1.4%-2%. Eiffage, Airbus, AXA and LVMH also dropped notably lower.

France's private sector shrank the most since early 2025 in April reflecting deterioration in the service sector as manufacturing output grew at the strongest pace in over four years, data from S&P Global showed.

The flash composite output index fell to a 14-month low of 47.6 in April from 48.8 in March. The score was forecast to fall to 48.6.

The services Purchasing Managers' Index dropped more-than-expected to 46.5 in April from 48.8 a month ago. The reading was seen at 48.5.

The manufacturing PMI posted a 47-month high of 52.8 in April, up from 50.0 in March. The score was above forecast of 49.5.

"The service economy has deteriorated due to a diminishing willingness to spend - a typical consequence of uncertainty - pulling overall business activity levels lower," S&P Global Market Intelligence Principal Economist Joe Hayes said.

Europe's new car registrations logged strong growth in March driven by the surge in demand for battery electric vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, said. Car sales increased 12.5% from a year ago to 1.158 million units in March, with electric and hybrid vehicles accounting for the majority of growth.