PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The French stock market is slightly lower Thursday morning, despite having opened on a positive note amid optimism about a trade deal between the U.S. and China.
With a slew of economic data to tap and the European Central Bank scheduled to announce its monetary policy today, investors appear a bit wary of building up positions and are taking some profits instead. Uncertainty about Brexit is weighing as well.
The benchmark CAC 40 index is down 7.66 points, or 0.14 percent, at 4901.78, coming off an early high of 4935.48.
Legrand, Capgemini, Sanofi, Dassault Systemes, Air Liquide and Saint Gobain are among the losers.
Hermes International, Renault, ST Microelectronics, BNP Paribas, Arcelor Mittal, Veolia Environment, Kering, Engie, Atos, Valeo SA, Peugeot and Societe Generale are moving up 0.5 to 1.25 percent.
Markets in Europe are looking ahead to the latest policy decision of the European Central Bank, due at 7:45 am ET.
The bank is set to confirm today that its four-year long quantitative easing programme, which saw the bank buying EUR 2.6 trillion worth of bonds in a bid to rescue the Eurozone economy, will conclude in December.
The main refi rate is currently at a record low zero percent and the deposit rate at -0.40 percent, while the marginal lending facility is at 0.25 percent.
In September, the ECB Staff trimmed the growth projections for this year, and next, to 2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. Draghi will release the latest set of projections on Thursday that is expected to reveal a further downgrade of the forecast for the coming years and refer to downside risks.
Asian markets ended on a high note once again, riding on optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal before the expiry of the 90-day truce.
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