Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange limited initiatives (+ 0.13%) Monday at midday, in a calm market in the absence of American investors and reinforced by the latest announcements from the Chinese Central Bank facing the coronavirus epidemic .

At 2:10 p.m. (1:10 p.m. GMT), the CAC 40 index took 8.03 points to 6.077.38 points, in a trading volume of 989 million euros. On Friday, it finished down 0.39%.

The Parisian rating opened slightly higher and kept this trend during the morning.

For its part, Wall Street was preparing to start also in the green. The futures contract for the flagship Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.14%, that of the broad S&P 500 index 0.22% and that of the highly technological Nasdaq 0.37%.

"While the American financial markets will remain closed today, the Chinese equity indices (have progressed) significantly thanks to the additional support measures announced by Beijing," said Thierry Claudé, deputy director of Kiplink Finance, in a note.

"Signs of a slowdown in the spread of the epidemic are still very fragile, which means that the impact on Chinese growth, and therefore worldwide, will last for at least several weeks," he added.

The United States on Monday evacuated some 300 Americans from a liner contaminated by the coronavirus off the coast of Japan, while the toll of the epidemic continued to climb in China, where 1,770 people have died since the appearance of this viral pneumonia in December in Wuhan (center).

Outside mainland China, five deaths have been recorded (one in the Philippines, one in Hong Kong, one in Japan, one in France and one in Taiwan announced on Sunday) while the number of infections amounts to at least 70,500 cases in China continental and nearly 800 reported in thirty other countries or territories.

The Chinese central bank also cut the cost of funding commercial banks again on Monday as part of Beijing's all-out efforts to support an economy crippled by the new coronavirus epidemic.

This measure is intended to ease the pressure on financial institutions to encourage them to grant more loans, on more favorable terms, to businesses.

China has also officially authorized imports of US poultry again, lifting an embargo in force since 2015, an apparent gesture of goodwill in the trade talks between Beijing and Washington.

In terms of macroeconomic indicators, Japan suffered the worst fall in five years of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2019, weighed down by an increase in the very unpopular consumption tax. He is now under threat from the coronavirus.

- Alstom in talks to acquire Bombardier Transportation -

In terms of values, Faurecia gained 6.32% to 45.74 euros, boosted by profitability maintained last year and a cash flow above expectations.

The automotive sector was generally well oriented, like Valeo (+ 3.64% to 28.20 euros), Plastic Omnium (+ 2.32% to 23.84 euros), Peugeot (+ 1.83% to 19.73 euros) or Michelin (+ 1.65% to 110.60 euros). Renault for its part took 1.22% to 34.92 euros. Only Renault fell 1.30% to 34.05 euros.

Alstom was boosted (+ 3.95% to 50.52 euros) by the confirmation Monday of talks with a view to "a potential acquisition of Bombardier Transportation", the railway branch of the Canadian group Bombardier.

Airbus fell back by 0.26% to 129.52 euros, penalized by the American announcement of an increase to 15% from March 18 of the customs taxes imposed on Airbus aircraft imported from Europe.

Icade lost 2% to 102.80 euros despite an increase in profits above expectations last year. The group has however warned that recent disposals will continue to weigh on its results in 2020.

© 2020 AFP