French stocks edged higher on Friday amid continued optimism about economic and earnings recovery.
The benchmark CAC 40 rose 18 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,900 after closing 0.4 percent higher the previous day.
Shares of Ipsen SA plunged nearly 12 percent after the pharmaceutical company announced the withdrawal of the New Drug Application for palovarotene following very recent discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The company said it plans to resubmit to the FDA upon completion of the additional data analysis.
In economic releases, French unemployment rate dropped marginally in the second quarter, data released by the statistical office Insee showed.
The ILO jobless rate dropped to 8 percent in the second quarter from 8.1 percent in the first quarter. The rate was forecast to fall to 7.9 percent.
The number of unemployed people decreased 16,000 from the previous quarter to 2.4 million in the second quarter.
Employment returned to its pre-crisis level and stood at its highest level since INSEE began measuring it on a quarterly basis in 2003.
CAC 40 Edges Higher On Earnings Optimism
2021-08-13 09:06:59
