BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French shares rose in early trade Thursday as oil rebounded from overnight losses and political tensions eased after Emmanuel Macron, the independent French presidential candidate, secured the backing of a leading centrist politician.
Also, on a light day on the economic front, figures released by the statistical office Insee revealed that French manufacturing confidence improved unexpectedly to the highest level in more than five years in February, The manufacturing sentiment index rose slightly to 107 from 106 in January.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 14 points or 0.28 percent at 4,909 in opening deals after inching up 0.2 percent on Wednesday.
Bouygues shares soared nearly 6 percent. The conglomerate reported a rise in fiscal year 2016 net profit to 732 million euros from 403 million euros in the previous year.
Telecommunications operator Orange advanced 1.5 percent after its fiscal 2016 net income increased to 2.94 billion euros from 2.65 billion euros last year.
Insurer AXA was marginally lower on posting muted growth in fiscal 2016 net income.
Peugeot Citroën fell 2.5 percent after it pledged to protect all the existing jobs at Opel and Vauxhall were the carmaker to go through with its acquisition of General Motors' European operations.
Resource management firm Veolia Environnement lost almost 7 percent on reporting a drop in its fiscal 2016 net income.
Technicolor shares slumped 10 percent after it swung to a FY net loss of 26 million euros versus profit of 78 million euros last year.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX