Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange remained green (+ 0.34%) Tuesday at midday, showing again determined to move forward even if the Chinese coronavirus remains at the heart of concerns.

At 1:37 p.m. (12:37 p.m. GMT), the CAC 40 index gained 20.33 points to 6.036.00 points, in a trading volume of 1.2 billion euros. The day before, it had fallen by 0.23%.

The Parisian rating is up since the opening.

Wall Street was also moving towards an opening in the green. The futures contract for the flagship Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.30%, that of the broad S&P 500 index 0.29% and that of the highly technological Nasdaq 0.46%.

"Fears surrounding the coronavirus epidemic" and its impact on "the world economy remain the dominant subject of the moment", but "investors also say that if the situation worsens, central banks will be there to counter the effects on economies, "observed Franklin Pichard, managing director of Kiplink Finance.

"This is the case of the Chinese central bank which, after having already injected more than 170 billion dollars of liquidity, added 40 billion dollars for the companies," he added.

The toll of the epidemic of the new coronavirus crossed the mark of 1,000 deaths on Tuesday and for the WHO, which dispatched an expert mission to China, the growing number of cases of transmission outside this country could augur of a largest spread of the epidemic worldwide.

The session of the day is also "rich in events, with the Democratic primary in New Hampshire and the first day of the semi-annual hearing of Jerome Powell at the Congress, which starts as always by the House of Representatives", without counting publications numerous results in Europe, noted Tangi Le Liboux, a strategist for broker Aurel BGC.

In monetary matters, the meeting will have two other meetings: the President of the ECB Christine Lagarde will present the 2018 annual report of the institution to the European Parliament and the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney will be before the Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords.

In terms of indicators, the most anticipated figure was GDP in the 4th quarter of 2019 in the United Kingdom. Growth came out at 1.4% in 2019, a slight increase compared to 1.3% in 2018, despite Brexit. In the fourth quarter, it was zero.

- shaped raw materials -

The commodities sector benefited well from the rebound in the index. ArcelorMittal gained 1.95% to 16.70 euros, Aperam 2.22% to 31.72 euros, Vallourec 4.65% to 2.34 euros and CGG 2.66% to 2.70 euros.

Michelin was however penalized (-2.72% to 103.85 euros) by a forecast of operating profit slightly down in 2020, even if the tire manufacturer withstood the car crisis last year by increasing its profits.

TechnipFMC rose 3.64% to 15.53 euros despite the announcement of a depreciation of $ 2.4 billion in the fourth quarter, largely due to changes in market capitalization. The announcement did not really surprise investors who, at this stage, are more reluctant to confirm its 2019 forecasts.

ADP suffered (-0.23% to 170.50 euros) from a drop in profit in 2019, due to the loss of operation of Atatürk Airport in Istanbul. The group is banking for 2020 on an increase of 2% to 2.5% of its traffic in Paris, which does not take into account the impact, "limited" for the moment, of the restrictions linked to the coronavirus.

Conversely, Air Liquide benefited (+ 1.71% to 136.95 euros) from a net profit up 6.1% in 2019 to 2.24 billion euros, supported by all activities Gas and Services.

© 2020 AFP