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French equities

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PARIS: French shares, in a show of independence and resilience, shrugged off Wall Street weakness to close higher, as some operators looked for an interest rate cut this week from the Bank of France.

Traders said they had hoped Paris would concentrate on domestic factors to overcome negative influence from the United States. Resilience in French bond markets helped support equities, as analysts polled by Reuters pointed to scope for a 10-basis-point cut in French rates on Thursday.

CAC-40 index closed up 6.75, or 0.33 percent, at 2,081.71.

CAC-40 April futures 2,089 vs 2,078 at Thursday's close.

Of CAC-40 stocks, 25 higher, 15 lower.

Broader SBF 120 index closed up 2.34 at 1,453.63.

Volume was 4.29 billion francs.

Paribas (+3.60/333) busy as market talk persists on possible shake-up of group structure.

Sanofi (+5.80/397.80) active after analysts meeting last Thursday and merger speculation, parent Elf Aquitaine (+8.70/356.10) benefits.

Ecco (-31/1,142) down as research house Detroyat and broker Dupont Denant downgrade the temporary employment agency, which announced 1995 profit of 591 million francs last Thursday.

Chargeurs (+17/1,365) confirms it no longer interested in buying MGM studio from CDR, the holding company selling off Credit Lyonnais (-1.60/208) assets.

Synthelabo (+2.50/400) off highs after posting 1995 net attributable profit 793.9 million francs vs 680 million.

CGIP (-27/1,202) announces 1995 net attributable profit 514 million francs vs 1.01 billion which included 667 million exceptional gain.

Bouygues (+2/511) chairman denies in a newspaper interview he was in talks for businessman Francois Pinault to take a stake in TF1 (+7/515) TV station.-Reuter