Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange ended slightly down (-0.15%) a gloomy day Wednesday, investors already seeming to turn to 2020, lack of new development in the main files of the year, the trade war and Brexit.

The CAC 40 index lost 8.66 points to 5,959.60 points, in a moderate trade volume of 3.7 billion euros. The day before, it had finished down 0.39%.

After Monday's records, and a brief run above the 6,000-point mark, a first since 2007, the Paris Bourse has returned to the ranks at the edge of the holiday season.

"The symbolic objective of 6,000 points remains in our heads," said Marco Bruzzo, deputy managing director at Mirabaud AM.

"We have a market that should remain stable within fairly narrow fluctuation ranges. We are entering a period where we will have lower volumes and lower volatility," he adds.

Investors have had little news to get their teeth into, side trade war like side Brexit, a subject still far from settled after the declarations of Boris Johnson who wants to conclude an agreement as soon as possible with Brussels.

"If Boris Johnson has a free hand, there are still some gray areas that have curbed the heat of the beginning of the week," said Bruzzo AFP.

At the end of the day, the markets will nevertheless monitor the news from the United States where the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, must vote to indict President Trump for possible dismissal.

- Peugeot benefits from the merger -

As for indicators, the morale of German entrepreneurs came out better than expected according to the Ifo barometer.

In France, growth should slow down should slow to 0.2% in the first quarter of 2020 and then return to its cruising speed of 0.3% in the second, according to INSEE.

In terms of inflation in the eurozone in November, it came out at 1% over a year as expected while in the United Kingdom it remained unchanged (1.5%).

In the field of values, Peugeot benefited without surprise (+ 1.36% to 22.41 euros) from the announcement of a merger agreement between equals with the Italian-American Fiat Chrysler "to form the fourth largest car manufacturer in the world ".

Capgemini was also well oriented (+ 1.19% to 110.20 euros), thanks to a legal decision rejecting the request to suspend its takeover bid on Altran (-0.11% to 14.24 euros).

Casino also sank 2.68% to 42.07 euros, weighted in particular by a lowering of recommendation on the title to "underperform" against "keep" previously by Jefferies.

Finally, Plastivaloire suffered (-9.51% to 7.04 euros) from a net profit down 38% to 24.6 million euros during its 2018-2019 financial year ended September 30, affected in particular by the "gloomy automotive market".

© 2019 AFP