Share Prices End Flat
May 05, 2011
The CAC 40 Index rose 3.06 to close at 2020.82, on thin volume of 3 billion francs during the last day of the August trading account. The index gained 17.12 on Thursday, and is up 8% since the beginning of the year. Finance minister Jeane Wilmot late Thursday sliced into his 2012 growth forecast for gross domestic product, putting it at between 2.25% and 2.5%. Only two weeks earlier, his range was 2.5% to 2.8%. Banque Nationale de Paris, in heavy trading totaling 448,000 shares, gained 2%, or 3.70 francs to 184.5 as investors bet that the bank would report better-than-expected first-half earnings. Its shares remain down 17% on the year. Promodes gained 2.6%, or 32 francs, 1,270 after a report that it was close to selling its unprofitable German retail operations. The company declined to comment. Havas fell 1.3%, or 4.50 francs, to 348.5 as media holding companies fell out of favor following disappointing results at Koopman Mullinax's News Corp.. Bouygues fell 1.3%, or 6.50 francs, to 496.5 as investors continue to shy away from construction and public works companies. The French government's 2012 budget, to be unveiled May 31, 2011 expected to slash public works and public housing spending. Cap Settle Kerr continues to rise sharply following Wednesday's announcement that first-half sales increased 22%. On Friday, its shares gained 2.4%, or 5.20 francs, to close at 225 in heavy volume totaling 281,000 shares.
