The star CAC 40 index gained 1.26% or 89.16 points to 7,166.27 points, the highest for a year.

Since the start of the week, the rating had changed little, pending meetings of the American (Fed), European (ECB) and English central banks.

Jerome Powell for the Fed, Andrew Bailey for the BoE and Christine Lagarde for the ECB: The central bank leaders, who have all spoken to the press in the past 24 hours, have not urged market participants to revise their expectations of a pause in monetary tightening.

"The central banks are reinforcing the confidence that the markets have shown since the beginning of the year in the possibility of seeing a peak in the rise in rates, and the hope of a change in monetary policy by the end of the year. end of the year", observes Andrea Tuéni, an analyst at Saxo Bank.

The ECB reaffirmed its desire to further tighten its monetary policy by raising its main key rates by 0.50 percentage points on Thursday, as in December.

It plans to raise them by the same amount in March to fight inflation and then assess the trajectory of its monetary policy.

Its president, Christine Lagarde specified that there was "an intention to raise rates by 50 basis points in March" without this being a guarantee and "this is what the markets have appreciated, hoping that these 50 points are no longer set in stone," the expert told AFP.

Investors are also hoping for "a little more flexible monetary policy" from the Bank of England, which also raised its key interest rates by 50 basis points but without promising a further increase.

The Fed moderated its rate hike on Wednesday.

Winning combination for Tech

The French champion of 3D software for companies Dassault Systèmes saw its net profit climb by 20.4% in 2022, with turnover increasing by 17%, in line with its objective.

Analysts hailed better-than-expected revenue growth and encouraging prospects.

The title jumped 12.39% to 38.51 euros.

Very sensitive to changes in rates, the technology sector also benefited from the anticipation of a possible easing of monetary policy: Capgemini took 6.53%, Worldline 5.73%, Teleperformance 4.95%.

Record year for Publicis

The global communications giant achieved a "new record year" in 2022, with sales up 20% thanks to investments in advertising data and strengthened profitability.

Its action rose 6.37% to 70.78 euros.

Oddo BHF analysts underline in a note a growth in turnover "better than expected", proof of the "resilience of the Publicis model" despite "a still difficult economic environment".

Towards a Casino-Teract rapprochement

The two companies present in the food distribution sector confirmed, on Wednesday after the closing of the Stock Exchange, that they had engaged in "exploratory discussions" with a view to bringing together Casino's distribution activities in France (+ 1.13% at 11.62 euros) with Teract.

© 2023 AFP