Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange remained well oriented Friday at midday, relieved by the actions taken by China to contain the spread of the coronavirus, by the reassuring message from WHO as well as by an encouraging indicator for Germany.

At 2:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. GMT), the CAC 40 index gained 69.18 points to 6.040.97 points in a trading volume of 1.5 billion euros. The Parisian market started in the green, accelerating its rebound until erasing the losses of the previous day.

Wall Street was preparing to open up. The futures contract for the flagship Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.30%, that of the broad S&P 500 index 0.23% and that of the Nasdaq, with its high technological coloring, 0.31%.

Mainland China's places, Shanghai and Shenzhen, are closed due to the long Chinese New Year holiday.

"The situation is getting worse in China as the number of confirmed deaths and infections increases, but the fact that the World Health Organization has indicated that there is no international emergency has boosted confidence among markets, "said David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets.

China launched Friday the construction of a hospital to receive within 10 days a thousand patients victims of the new coronavirus, which appeared in December on a market in Wuhan (center) and whose balance sheet has worsened, with 26 dead out of a total of 830 infected people.

China has stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the virus by confining more than 40 million people and shutting down many popular sites including sections of the famous Great Wall.

In Beijing, the Forbidden City, former palace of the emperors, has been closed since Thursday and the New Year's festivities, which usually attract hundreds of thousands of onlookers in amusement parks, have been canceled. In Shanghai, Disneyland announced that it is closing its doors.

In addition to this information from China concerning the coronary heart virus, investors also had to digest the stagnation in the growth of private activity in the euro zone in January, with encouraging signs for France and Germany, according to the first estimate. of the Markit PMI composite index.

In addition, the presidents of the European institutions signed Friday the divorce agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU and forwarded it to the European Parliament for ratification on January 29, the last act with a view to finalizing the rupture of a tumultuous union.

- Ipsen undermined -

The biggest drop in SBF 120, Ipsen fell 21.1% to 65.95 euros after the suspension of all clinical trials related to palovarotene, a molecule intended to treat rare bone diseases.

Rémy Cointreau also slipped, by 9.55% to 101.30 euros, after a steeper than expected decline in its turnover in the third quarter of its postponed financial year 2019-2020.

On the other hand, Carrefour, the largest increase in the CAC 40, gained 5.44% to 15.42 euros, after a 2019 turnover higher than analysts' expectations, at 80.7 billion euros.

Compagnie des Alpes gained 2.33% to 30.70 euros thanks to the 11% increase in its activity between October and December.

Somfy won 2.75% to 93.50 euros, taking advantage of the increase in sales (+ 6.5%) in 2019, to 1.2 billion euros.

Renault was penalized (-2.49% to 36.07 euros) by a drop in recommendation from "neutral" to "sell" by Citi.

© 2020 AFP