Paris (AFP)

The Paris Stock Exchange fell 0.61% to return to close to 5,000 points on Friday mid-session, in a calm market due to the closure of Wall Street and in the aftermath of a sharp rise.

At 12.57 p.m., the CAC 40 index lost 30.9 points to 5.018.41 points. On Thursday, it jumped 2.49%, returning to its highest level since June 10.

The Parisian rating opened slightly higher, before gradually declining. It even went back briefly below the 5,000 point mark.

Wall Street is exceptionally closed on Friday, on the eve of American National Day.

The market "was calm after the excitement of the employment report in the United States" Thursday, said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.

The monthly employment figures in the United States have pleasantly surprised the European markets, which have risen sharply.

The US economy has created 4.8 million jobs, far more than the 3 million expected by consensus. The unemployment rate fell to 11.1% from 13.3% in May.

Investors preferred to focus on this record of job creation rather than on other "more mixed" published American statistics such as the trade balance, manufacturing orders or weekly jobless claims, nuance Tangi Le Liboux, a strategist for the broker Aurel BGC.

"The recent batch of solid macroeconomic data coming from different zones as well as the encouraging results of the tests of a vaccine against the coronavirus completely compensated the fears of a second wave", details Pierre Veyret, analyst at ActivTrades.

Still on Friday, investors learned that private sector activity in France returned to expansion after the deconfinement in June for the first time in four months, according to the IHS Markit index.

However, "strong uncertainty remains in a health context" notes Franklin Pichard, CEO of Kipling Finance.

The pandemic has killed at least 517,416 people worldwide, according to a report compiled by AFP from official sources Thursday at 7:00 p.m. GMT. 53,000 new infections were identified in the United States on Thursday, a record.

This environment "will force the American Federal Reserve to remain attentive and will force it to continue to buy massively American bonds to let last an environment of low rates" continues Mr. Pichard.

Finally, the geopolitical risk has not disappeared either, and the United States Congress has adopted unanimously by both chambers a law providing for the sanctioning of Chinese officials applying the new repressive security rules against Hong Kong.

Beijing has threatened to adopt "strong countermeasures" if the law is passed by President Donald Trump.

- Bic on the front -

In terms of values, technology returned to the front of the CAC 40 like Wordline which gained 1.65% to 79.09 euros.

Bic rose 0.99% to 44.76 euros the day after the decision of the International Trade Commission of the United States to prevent the importation "of all lighters which imitate the appearance of Bic lighters".

Air France-KLM fell 1.63% to 4.10 euros. Air France must formalize Friday the elimination of more than 7,500 positions by the end of 2022.

The most prominent stocks Thursday were this time like the automobile: Renault lost 2.10% to 22.13 euros and Peugeot yielded 2.12% to 14.32 euros.

© 2020 AFP