The flagship CAC 40 index fell 40.17 points, falling to 6,510.49 points, after a timid opening up.
On Tuesday, it had taken 0.70%, driven by the announcement of the reopening of China after almost three years of the strict "zero Covid" health policy.
The Parisian place showed Wednesday evening a decline of nearly 9% since the beginning of the year.
In an almost empty economic agenda and in the absence of many investors in the trading rooms, as usual between the end of year celebrations, trading volumes are reduced this week, which amplifies the variations.
Despite the prospect of a reopening of China, "we have a situation which remains gloomy on the economy, an inflation which remains oriented in the direction of an increase in interest rates", underlined Mikael Jacoby, head of continental brokerage at Oddo BHF.
“The only thing that could thwart the recession is the growth that could come from Chinese consumers”, but, according to him, “the effect will not be seen immediately”.
In addition, investors are wondering to what extent China's reopening will push demand for commodities higher and thus contribute to higher inflation, which could lead to even more aggressive monetary tightening by central banks in the world, particularly in Europe, which is very dependent on the price of raw materials.
On the bond market, the French rate remained above 3%, the closing threshold which it had exceeded on Tuesday for the first time since April 2012.
Almost all of the forty stocks making up the CAC 40 ended in the red.
© 2022 AFP