Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse ended down 0.69% on Friday, in the trend of a week marked by the return of health concerns that caused its worst weekly performance in three months.

The CAC 40 index lost 32.96 points to 4,729.66 points in a trading volume of 3.2 billion euros.

Over the week, it fell 5%, which it had not known since mid-June.

Since January 1, it has lost 20.88% of its valuation.

The Parisian coast experienced a new health shock this week with a plunge on Monday and three other drops, for a meager rebound on Wednesday.

"The decline is linked to the increase in cases of Covid-19, which guides the stock markets in 2020. But unlike March, investors know what is happening", analyzes Lara Nguyen, private manager at Fastea Capital.

"The market does not sink, but gradually decreases, day after day. This shows that it does not over-react," she said, also pointing to the fact that volatility, if it has increased, remains very far from crisis levels.

The restrictive measures put in place throughout Europe "lead us to believe that at least partial re-containment could be possible" Judge Valentin Bulle, manager for Dôm Finance.

France has recorded 16,096 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, a record since the launch of large-scale tests in the country, according to data released Thursday evening by Public Health France.

The European Union on Thursday called on its member states to toughen their control measures "immediately" in the face of new outbreaks of the Covid-19 epidemic.

"Investors are wondering if the state stimulus plans and central bank measures will be enough" to keep the rebound underway since the end of the deconfinements, adds Ms. Nguyen.

So, among many signals that the economic recovery is slowing, growth in durable goods orders in the United States slowed sharply in August, according to data released on Friday, and was below analysts' expectations.

The Lagardère share rose spectacularly from 32.28% to 20.12 euros on Friday, the day after the announcement of Bernard Arnault's acquisition of a stake in the company's capital, in the midst of a battle between shareholders.

Bank values ​​fell again to end a nightmarish week marked, in addition to health fears, by an investigation into money laundering passing through their accounts.

Crédit Agricole lost 3.48% to 7.16 euros, BNP Paribas 2.92% to 30.25 euros and Société Générale 2.75% to 10.90 euros.

In total, they lost between 10 and 15% in five days.

Suez jumped 5.76% to 15.05 euros while the CEO of Veolia assured that his group would "improve" its offer made to Engie for the shares of Suez.

Veolia also benefited, increasing 2.14% to 18.34 euros while Engie fell slightly by 0.13% to 11.12 euros.

© 2020 AFP