French equities entered negative territory on Monday morning, ending a notable 9-day run of gains, primarily driven by a sell-off in technology stocks. This downturn comes amid apprehensions surrounding the impact of the Chinese startup DeepSeek’s innovative and cost-effective AI model on the sector. Investor sentiment is further tempered by concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats and the market's anticipation of forthcoming interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
The CAC 40 index, after dipping to 7,844.41, slightly rebounded to 7,863.59, yet remained 64.03 points or 0.81% lower than its previous close. Amongst the stocks leading the decline, Schneider Electric tumbled nearly 9%, while Legrand fell 7%. STMicroelectronics and Capgemini experienced decreases of 3% and 2.8%, respectively, with Edenred down approximately 2.2%.
Additional declines were observed in the shares of Saint-Gobain, Safran, Dassault Systèmes, Hermès International, and Airbus Group, all registering losses of 1% to 2%. Conversely, Vivendi saw a rise of more than 3.5%, with Eurofins Scientific gaining about 2.5% and Société Générale advancing by 2.3%. Other companies like Orange, Carrefour, Engie, Vinci, Sanofi, Bouygues, and Danone saw increases ranging from 1.5% to 2%.
In terms of notable gainers, Veolia, AXA, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Unibail-Rodamco, and Stellantis also marked significant upward movement.
