Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse ended up 0.53% on Friday, driven by the banking sector, allowing the CAC 40 to approach its all-time high and to experience its best weekly performance since March.

The CAC 40 index gained 35.77 points to 6,816.96 points.

It has risen 3.09% over the week and 22.80% since the start of the year.

The session was held exclusively under the influence of the US monthly employment report, a major data of the week likely to influence the next stage of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

The US economy generated 943,000 non-farm jobs in July, according to the Labor Department, more than expected, and the unemployment rate fell sharper than expected to 5.4%.

This improvement in the labor market reinforces the prospect of monetary tightening on the part of the US central bank, which has caused a spectacular rise in government bond yields.

Most analysts were expecting stocks to fall in the event of a very positive report, but the market decided otherwise.

"The rates go up because one can imagine that monetary policies could be less accommodating" thereafter, indicates to AFP Nicolas Budin, manager at Myria AM, who considers that, "to a certain point, it is a good news for the equity markets "and in particular the cyclical sectors.

Stock markets have been doing well for months, supported by low interest rates and recently boosted by a favorable corporate earnings season.

The powerhouse banking sector

The trio BNP Paribas (+ 3.03% to 54 euros), Société Générale (+ 1.47% to 27.54 euros) and Crédit Agricole (+ 2.92% to 12.28 euros) benefited from the increase in sovereign borrowing rates.

Axa, with whom he weighs nearly 10% of the index, gained 1.28% to 78.13 euros.

Alstom signs a contract with Trenitalia

Alstom shares took 1% to 35.37 euros after the signing of a framework agreement with the Italian national operator Trenitalia for the supply of up to 150 additional regional trains, for a value of up to 910 millions of euros.

Amundi punished

The European asset management giant Amundi (-0.43% to 57.60 euros) was fined Thursday evening 32 million euros by the stock market policeman in particular for "price manipulation".

© 2021 AFP