(RTTNews) - French stocks traded sharply higher on Friday after a European Central Bank (ECB) poll of professional forecasters showed that inflation in the euro zone will fall to 2 percent in 2025 and stay there in the longer term, giving the clearest indication that the ECB could cut interest rates in June.
Meanwhile, France's consumer price inflation slowed to the lowest in two-and-a-half years, as initially estimated in March, the latest data from the statistical office INSEE showed earlier today.
The consumer price index, or CPI, posted an annual increase of 2.3 percent in March, following February's 3.0 percent rise. That was in line with the flash data published on March 29.
The rate was the weakest since September 2021, when the figure was 2.2 percent. The harmonized inflation weakened to 2.4 percent in March from 3.2 percent in the previous month.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 80 points, or 1 percent, 8,104 after closing 0.3 percent lower the previous day.
Lender Societe Generale surged 4.3 percent, a day after announcing a deal to sell its professional equipment financing business to rival BPCE for €1.1bn.
