CAC 40 Down Nearly 0.5% In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - French stocks are showing weakness on Friday after preliminary data showed a drop in the nation's services sector activity in the month of October. Investors are also reacting to corporate earnings updates, and awaiting the release of delayed U.S. inflation figures for September.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 36.10 points or 0.44% at 8,189.68 a few minutes ago.

Thales, Kering and Vinci are down 3 to 3.3%. Unibail Rodamco, Bouygues, Orange, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are losing 1.3 to 1.7%.

Safran is down 1.4%. The aerospace group raised its full year forecasts but warned of a residual hit from tariffs on its bottom line.

Veolia Environment, Engie, STMicroElectronics, AXA, TotalEnergies, Danone and ArcelorMittal are down 0.5 to 1%.

Meanwhile, Accor is rising 5.4%. The hospitality major, which announced on Thursday that revenue per room rose 0.8% in the the third quarter to Euro 78, also said that it is evaulating the possibility of an initial public offering for the Ennismore lifestyle hotel and restaurant entity in which the company holds a major stake.

Ederned is declining by about 2.1%, while Capgemini, Hermes International and Schneider Electric are up 1 to 1.2%. Shares of drug major Sanofi pared most of their early gains are are up 0.3%. The stock rose after its third-quarter earnings beat forecasts.

Data from S&P Global showed the HCOB France Composite PMI declined to 46.8 in October from 48.1 in the previous month, according to preliminary estimates. This marked the 14th straight month of contraction in private sector activity and the sharpest since February.

The Services PMI dropped to 47.1 from 48.5% in September, while the manufacturing PMI edged up slightly to 48.3 from 48.2.

Eurozone business activity growth hit a 17-month high in October, with Composite PMI rising to 52.2 from 51.2, driven by services.