CAC 40 Edges Higher On Earnings
(RTTNews) - French stocks were moving higher on Wednesday after a survey showed activity in the country's service sector slowed less than first forecast in July.
Sentiment was also underpinned by encouraging earnings updates from the likes of Societe Generale and Axa.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 0.2 percent at 6,421 after losing 0.4 percent in the previous session.
Insurer Axa surged 4.8 percent after it posted higher first-half profit and announced a share buyback program.
Societe Generale jumped nearly 4 percent. The lender reported better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter despite taking a 3.3 billion euro ($3.36 billion) hit from exiting its Russian operations.
Ipsen declined 1.4 percent. The pharmaceutical company announced that the Phase III RESILIENT trial evaluating Onivyde did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival compared to topotecan in second-line monotherapy for small cell lung cancer.
Veolia fell 2.8 percent after it has signed a merger agreement concerning the merger of Vigie SA (formerly known as Suez SA) into Veolia.