Published by Uma Rajagopal
Posted on December 5, 2024
(Reuters) – European stocks hovered near one-month highs on Thursday with French equities rising after lawmakers in the country voted to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, a move widely anticipated by market participants.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.1% by 0810 GMT, extending gains for a sixth consecutive session. France’s CAC 40 also edged up 0.1%, in-line with regional peers.
Barnier is expected to resign on Thursday, making him the shortest serving prime minister in modern French history. France now risks ending the year without a stable government or a 2025 budget, although the constitution allows special measures that would avert a U.S.-style government shutdown.
Shares in major French lenders rose, with BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole up between 1.2% and 2% on hopes that the government can avoid a shutdown.
Safran fell 4.6% after the French jet engine maker issued new financial targets.
French oil firm TotalEnergies rose 1% after RBC upgraded its shares to “outperform” from “sector perform”.
(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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