French stocks eked out modest gains in cautious trade on Thursday after suffering steep losses in the previous session on fears that rising inflation could force central banks to raise policy rates sooner than planned.
The benchmark CAC 40 edged up 20 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,281 after closing 1.4 percent lower on Wednesday.
Bouygues shares edged up slightly. The conglomerate reported a smaller than expected first-quarter core loss and raised the full-year guidance for its telecoms division.
In economic releases, Eurozone’s current account surplus in March decreased from the previous month, data from the European Central Bank showed.
The current account surplus dropped to EUR 18 billion from EUR 26 million in February. In the same month last year, the surplus was EUR 10 billion.
The goods trade surplus decreased to EUR 24 billion from EUR 33 billion in the previous month. The surplus in the services trade fell to EUR 8 billion from EUR 12 billion.
CAC 40 Modestly Higher In Early Trade
2021-05-20 09:09:22
