(RTTNews) - French stocks drifted lower on Thursday, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but cautioned that inflation is still too high to start cutting policy rates.
Closer home, European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel warned that consumer price growth in the euro zone is proving stubborn and that he and his colleagues won't simply lower borrowing costs automatically. Governing Council Madis Muller is due to speak later in the session.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 57 points, or 0.7 percent, at 7,807 after rising 1 percent the previous day.
In corporate news, Technip Energies N.V., an engineering and technology company, fell about 1 percent despite winning a new order.
The company said its joint venture with Japanese engineering company JGC and UAE's NMDC Energy has received a major EPC contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Rolling stock maker Alstom SA was down 2.4 percent. The company has completed a share capital increase with shareholders' preferential subscription rights in an amount of 1 billion euros, including issue premium.
This was the final step of the previously announced 2 billion euros deleveraging plan.
