Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange was still losing ground (-0.44%) Tuesday early in the afternoon after an abortive start-up attempt at the start of the session, still weighed down by the spread beyond the Chinese borders of the coronavirus.

At 1:34 p.m. (12:34 p.m. GMT), the CAC 40 index lost 25.46 points to 5,766.41 points, in a substantial trading volume of 2 billion euros. The day before, it had ended in very strong decline of 3.94%.

The Parisian rating opened slightly higher before sinking again, the latest news about the epidemic offering no relief.

"The rebound in Europe did not last long this morning" and "the minds of investors remain largely concerned about the health crisis in Italy," said David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Two new Italian regions, Tuscany and Sicily, have identified cases of contamination with the new coronavirus, Civil Protection announced on Tuesday, reporting a new total of 283 cases in the country.

Two months after the appearance of the new coronavirus in central China, the epidemic accelerated across the globe on Monday, the WHO evoking a risk of "pandemic", against the backdrop of tumbling financial markets worried about the 'Mondial economy.

The WHO has notably deemed "very worrying (...) the sudden increase" of new cases in Italy, South Korea and Iran, where even the Deputy Minister of Health has been infected. WHO has observed a decline in China, the country of origin of the disease, since the beginning of February.

"After a period of resilience," investors "reacted brutally to news that makes it more likely that the Chinese epidemic will turn into a potentially global pandemic," economists Aurel BGC said.

"It is true that the passage from one to the other of the risks does not generate the same economic risks", added these experts, Christian Parisot and Jean-Louis Mourier.

In terms of indicators, the German economy stagnated well at the end of 2019, the gross domestic product remaining immobile (+ 0.0%) in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter.

In France, the business climate remained stable in February compared to the previous month.

Across the Atlantic, consumer confidence in February is also on the agenda.

- Raw materials at half mast -

In terms of values, the raw materials sector continued to suffer, like CGG which lost 6.52% to 2.50 euros, Vallourec 3.38% to 1.97 euros or Eramet 3.11% to 28 , 37 euros.

Carrefour took the lead in the CAC 40 index (+ 1.43% to 15.95 euros), taking advantage of the increase in its recommendation to "overweight" by Morgan Stanley.

EDF also benefited (+ 1.24% to 13.47 euros) from the rise of its own to "buy" by Goldman Sachs.

Coface fell 3.34% to 11 euros in the wake of the announcement of the sale of 29.5% of its capital by Natixis bank (+ 0.35% to 4.26 euros) to the American insurer Arch Capital Group, for almost 500 million euros.

Oeneo lost 2.99% to 12.96 euros. The British fund Polygon Global Partners, second shareholder of the French manufacturer of caps and barrels, said Monday in a letter to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) not to wish to sell its shares as part of the tender offer. (OPA) launched recently, judging the proposed price per share "undervalued".

© 2020 AFP