CAC 40 Up Nearly 0.5% On Iran Peace Hopes

(RTTNews) - The French stock market gained in strength after a steady start on Friday, as investors remain hopeful of U.S. and Iran engaging in meaningful discussions this weekend to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated that a second round of talks could take place this weekend, warning that fighting may resume if no deal is finalized.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 33.55 points or 0.41% at 8,296.25 about a quarter past noon.

Dassault Systemes moved up 3.5%. Hermes International gained 3.4% and EssilorLuxottica climbed 3.1%. Capgemini advanced by about 2.7%.

Stellantis, STMicroelectronics, Saint Gobain, Renault, Bureau Veritas, Pernod Ricard, Eurofins Scientific, Sanofi, Airbus, Kering, Michelin, BNP Paribas and Publicis Groupe gained 1%-2%.

Orange drifted lower by about 3.4%. A consortium including the French telecom giant, Bouygues Telecom and Free-iliad Group has submitted an offer and started negotiations with the Altice France group to acquire SFR. Bouygues shares declined 1.8 percent.

Eiffage dropped by about 1.6%. TotalEnergies, Engie, Vinci, Veolia Environment and Carrefour lost 0.5%-0.9%.

In economic news, Eurozone exports decreased for the second straight month in February, data from Eurostat showed. Exports decreased 6.7% year-on-year in February, slower than the 7.7% fall in January. Likewise, imports dropped 2.2% from a year ago, following a 7.8% decrease in January.

As a result, the trade balance posted a surplus of EUR 11.5 billion, representing a substantial improvement from the EUR 1 billion deficit in January.

On a month-on-month basis, exports grew 0.9% in February and imports increased 3.5%. Consequently, the seasonally adjusted trade surplus fell to EUR 7.0 billion from EUR 12.8 billion in January.