CAC 40 Down Marginally In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - French stocks are down slightly Tuesday morning as worries about an imminent start of fresh U.S. levies on Mexico and Canada, and tightening restrictions on China's chip industries weigh on investor sentiment.

The benchmark CAC 40, which advanced to 8,101.08 after a weak start, was down 5.56 points at 8,085.43 a few minutes ago.

STMicroElectronics is down 2.6%. Capgemini is declining 2.2%. Renault is down 2.1% after data showed a drop in automobile registrations in Europe in January. A downward revision in the company's rating by Jefferies is also weighing on the stock.

Schneider Electric, Publicis Groupe and Michelin are down 1.4 to 1.7%. Kering, Legrand, Carrefour, Dassault Systemes, Pernod Ricard, LVMH, Essilor and Stellantis are lower by 0.4 to 1.1%.

Societe Generale is climbing more than 2.5%. Accor is up 1.5%, while Unibail Rodamco, Orange, BNP Paribas, AXA, Thales, Airbus Group, Engie, Credit Agricole, Vivendi, TotalEnergies, Hermes International and Safran are up 0.6 to 1.1%.

According to the data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, new car registrations in Europe declined in January as sales weakened across three major markets.

New car sales in January decreased 2.6% from a year ago, in contrast to the 5.1% increase in December.

Car registrations declined 6.2% in France and by 5.8% in Italy. Germany reported a moderate fall of 2.8%, while Spain recorded a 5.3% increase.

Overall car sales declined despite a surge in electric car demand. Hybrid-electric vehicles became the first most preferred choice among EU car buyers.

Hybrid-electric vehicle sales surged ahead, commanding nearly 34.9% of the market. Sales of hybrid-electric cars climbed 18.4% boosted by sharp increases in the four biggest markets. Battery electric vehicles made up 15% of the market share as new battery-electric car sales advanced 34%.

Data showed that the combined market share of petrol and diesel cars was 39.4%, down from 48.7% in the same period last year.

Petrol car sales slid 18.9% annually. Similarly, the diesel car market declined 27%.