The flagship CAC 40 index rose by 1.20%, or 84.12 points to reach 7,097.26 points around 09:45. The day before, it had already taken 1.27%, but this does not compensate for last week's 4% losses.

Shares in Paris, especially those of banks, were able to recover on Monday after the European Central Bank criticized Switzerland's decision to favor shareholders over holders of risky bonds during the takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS on Sunday.

"This announcement was extremely important because most investors felt very uncomfortable" with this unusual prioritization in this kind of operation, say analysts at Deutsche Bank.

The financial authorities of Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States continued to hammer the markets that the banking system is sound and have multiplied guarantees to restore calm to the markets.

Investors will await the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, following a two-day meeting.

Engaged in a vigorous fight against inflation, the Fed could, according to observers, raise its key rates by only 0.25 percentage points, and not by 0.5 percentage points as expected at the beginning of the month, in the name of the stability of the financial system.

An even softer decision "would send a more serious message that the Fed sees something that the market doesn't, which could shake them even more," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

On the bond market, the interest rate on the French bond rose to 2.70%, against 2.64% the day before, after significant declines in recent days.

Banks are back in shape

Banks were in the best gains of the CAC 40 index: BNP Paribas took 3.58% to 54.44 euros, Société Générale 2.54% to 21.56 euros, Credit Agricole 2.31% to 10.29 euros. The insurer Axa also gained 3.21% to 27.46 euros.

Abandoned defensives

Unlike in recent days, the more defensive stocks, favored when investors are in uncertainty, were neglected: Air Liquide gave up 0.07% to 150.38 euros, Pernod Ricard rose only 0.30% to 201.20 euros.

Acquisition for Sopra Steria

The French IT services group has announced the acquisition of Dutch technology company Ordina for 518 million euros. The share fell 2.16% to 185.60 euros, one of the worst performances of the broader SBF 120 index.

© 2023 AFP