An exterior view of the Hotel Sofitel Paris Bercy, part of the Accor group, in Paris. Hotels giant Accor’s share price tumbled 5.3% to €39.27 in Paris yesterday.
AFP
London
The Paris stock market slipped yesterday in nervous but volatile trade in the wake of devastating terror attacks on the French capital.
The deadly late-night assault on Friday in Paris, which left 129 people dead and 352 injured, also sent the euro tumbling on fears for security in Europe and its effect on the already struggling eurozone economy.
“Equity markets remained under pressure ... as the attacks in Paris on Friday caused high uncertainty,” said Sucden analyst Myrto Sokou.
“The tragic events limited any risk appetite and caused nervous trading conditions.”
The benchmark CAC 40 index of top French companies dived 1.1% in opening deals, then bounced briefly into gains before pulling back to show a slender loss of 0.1%.
German stocks also bounced back and forth, while British stocks held in positive territory.
London’s FTSE 100 index showed a gain of 0.1% from Friday’s closing level, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 shed 0.2%.
“In a sign of resilience there is no sign of the panicked trading that could have been justifiably expected from the European indices,” noted Spreadex trader Connor Campbell.
The top faller in Paris was hotels giant Accor, with luxury goods groups LVMH and Kering not far behind, as investors fretted over a likely drop in consumer demand in the wake of the attacks.
Accor’s share price tumbled 5.3% to €39.27.
LVMH and Kering fell by 1.9% and 1.1%, to stand at €159.30 and €163.50 respectively.
Europe’s airlines also took a major hit, with Germany’s Lufthansa dropping 1.9% to €13.04 in Frankfurt.
And in London, British Airways owner IAG lost 3.1% to 574 pence, and low-cost rival EasyJet shed 1.0% to 1,772 pence.
However, Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, noted that markets were resilient on the whole.
“In a major sign of defiance, equity markets have fallen far less than expected and, outside of tourism and transport stocks, remain resilient.”
Across in Asia, markets mostly fell yesterday following the Paris attacks—with airline stocks also taking a beating.
Japan Airlines sank almost three% and rival ANA was down 3.5%, while in Sydney Virgin Australia plunged 6.5%. Indonesian flag carrier Garuda also retreated more than one%, while Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific was 2.7% lower.
Tokyo stocks shed one% after data showed that Japanese gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.2% in the July-September period, or an annualised contraction of 0.8%, marking the second straight quarterly decline—considered a technical recession.
Selling also hit the euro, which was already under pressure from expectations the European Central Bank will loosen monetary policy to shore up the eurozone.
Wall Street open flat, although investors weren’t impressed with the $12.2bn merger of Marriott International and Starwood to create the world’s largest hotel chain bringing together such famous institutions as Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, W, Westin and Sheraton.
