After opening slightly higher, the CAC 40 index dropped 3.02 points to 6,552.75 points around 9:35 a.m.

The day before, he had lost 0.39%.

“The market is undecided”, underline the analysts of Saxo Bank, pointing in particular to “a lack of catalyst on the rise”.

"In the short term, there are significant downside risks", the conflict in Ukraine threatening economic activity and increasing the risks of high inflation, they continue.

The Paris financial center remains focused above all on the war in Ukraine, the day after new sanctions announced by Westerners against Russia.

US President Joe Biden travels to Poland on Friday in Rzeszow, a town near the Ukrainian border, rising to the front line of Western engagement.

Mr. Biden promised Thursday in Brussels for the first time a "response" from NATO on the conflict in Ukraine if Russia resorted to chemical weapons.

Economically, the G7 and European Union countries will sanction any transaction involving Russia's gold reserves, to prevent Moscow from circumventing the financial isolation measures taken by the West.

On the ground, Russia claimed on Friday that it had destroyed the Ukrainian army's largest fuel reserve near kyiv the day before, although it is not yet possible to verify these claims independently.

A prospective president for Orange

The president of the automotive supplier Valeo Jacques Aschenbroich, 67, is expected to take the presidency of the Orange group, we learned Friday from a source close to the company, confirming press information.

The title remained stable, at 51.51 euros.

TF1 and M6 agree with France Télévisions

TF1 and M6 undertook on Thursday, in the event of the completion of their merger project, to buy the 33.33% stake of France Télévisions in the Salto streaming platform, for 45 million euros, according to a joint press release from the three groups.

TF1 took 0.62% to 8.92 euros and M6 0.92% to 17.46 euros.

The geopolitical context still buoyant for Thalès

The technology and defense group Thalès was still at the top of the CAC 40, with an increase of 1.31% to 119.55 euros.

Since the beginning of the year, the action has taken nearly 60%, boosted by the war in Ukraine.

The context of uncertainty also pushed investors to turn to defensive stocks, less subject to variations in economic activity, such as Air Liquide (+0.79% to 158.68 euros), Pernod Ricard (+0.67 % to 187.65 euros) or Carrefour (+0.59% to 18.90 euros).

© 2022 AFP