The star CAC 40 index lost 2.86 points to 6,198.47 points, at 10:00 a.m. (08:00 GMT).

Thursday, he had taken note of the sharp rise in the key rates of the ECB and rose by 0.27%.

Since the beginning of the week, the Parisian market has so far gained 2.69%, its third week in a row on the rise.

The ECB raised its three main rates on Thursday by half a percentage point, against a quarter of a point initially planned.

She also provided details on the new instrument intended to protect the most fragile states against speculative attacks on their debt.

But the activation of this tool will be subject to economic conditions.

Xavier Chapard, member of the research and strategy team at Banque Postale AM, believes that "the ECB will be reluctant to use this program without significant financial stress", given "the absence of precise and binding criteria on the eligibility and the triggering of this new program".

Thus, in the midst of a political crisis in Italy, the declarations of the President of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, did not reassure the market.

After the resignation of the head of government Mario Draghi, dropped by three parties of his coalition, the Italian president Sergio Mattarella decided Thursday evening to dissolve the Parliament, causing early elections which will take place on September 25.

“For the future, the ECB indicates that it will continue to rise, its rates but without committing to the timetable and the size of future increases”, adds the expert from La Banque Postale AM.

On the bond market, the borrowing rates of European states eased significantly by 10 to 15 basis points on Friday morning.

In France, the Ministry of the Economy has unveiled its stability program in which the government plans to reduce state and local government spending during the five-year term and to return the public deficit to below 3% in 2027.

In the short term, the government expects a slowdown in the economy next year, with growth expected at 1.4%, after 2.5% in 2022.

An interim indicator from S&P Global showed on Friday that the French economy slowed markedly in July as private sector activity virtually stagnated.

Concerns about Ubisoft

French video game publisher Ubisoft announced a 9.8% drop in sales in the first quarter of its 2022-2023 financial year, as well as a postponement to "2023-24" of the release of the highly anticipated game. "Avatar", from the film by James Cameron.

Its action lost 2.62% to 40.57 euros.

© 2022 AFP