CAC 40 Up Sharply As Oil's Fall, Trump's Comments Lift Sentiment

(RTTNews) - France's equity benchmark CAC 40 is high up in positive territory on Tuesday, lifted by a fall in oil prices, and U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks that the war in the Middle East could come to a quick end.

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have issued a stern warning, saying they would not allow "one liter of oil" to be shipped from the Middle East if military strikes by the U.S. and Israel continue.

Markets across the globe fell on Monday as inflation concerns rose after brent crude futures rose to $119.50 a barrel. Today, brent crude futures tumbled to $89.00, losing about 10%. Oil futures had soared to $119.50 a barrel on Monday.

The CAC 40 was up 168.54 points or 2.13% at 8,083.90 a few minutes ago.

ArcelorMittal is up more than 5.5%. Societe Generale and STMicroelectronics are gaining 4.7% and 4.5%, respectively.

Michelin, BNP Paribas, Schneider Electric, Legrand, Stellantis, Hermes International and Accor are up 3%-3.6%. Credit Agricole, Engie and Kering are up nearly 3%.

Automaker Renault climbed 2.7% after announcing it is targeting substantial international expansion by 2030.

Unibail Rodamco, Kering, Vinci, EssilorLuxottica, Safran, LVMH, AXA, Veolia Environment, Eiffage, Bouygues, Airbus, Eurofins Scientific, Saint Gobain, Sanofi, Bureau Veritas, Dassault Systemes and Thales are also up with strong gains.

TotalEnergies is down by about 1.6%. Euronext and Orange are down 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

France's trade deficit narrowed sharply in January largely due to a notable fall in imports, data from the customs office revealed.

The trade deficit narrowed to EUR 1.84 billion from EUR 4.29 billion in December. In the same period last year, the deficit totaled EUR 6.75 billion. Exports posted a monthly growth of 0.7% in January. At the same time, imports declined 3.6% from December.

On a yearly basis, exports advanced 4% in January, while imports edged down 0.1%, data showed.