CAC 40 Inches Lower On Growth Worries; Banks Outperform

(RTTNews) - French shares traded slightly lower on Wednesday even as lenders Societe Generale and Credit Agricole reported higher profits in their respective second quarters amid challenging economic environment for banking activities.

While the continuous slide in oil prices and global growth concerns sapped investors' appetite for risk, encouraging data on Eurozone private sector activity and an in-line report on Eurozone retail sales helped to limit the downside to some extent.

The CAC 40 was down 13 points or 0.31 percent at 4,314 in late opening deals after hitting as low as 4,293 earlier in the session. The benchmark index fell 1.8 percent in the previous session.

Insurer AXA lost 2 percent on reporting flat underlying earnings in the first six months of the year.

Societe Generale climbed 4.5 percent as the country's second-largest bank reported an 8 percent rise in second-quarter profit, boosted by lower provisions for bad loans and the sale of its stake in Visa Europe.

Crédit Agricole rose over 2 percent on reporting a 26 percent rise in second-quarter net profit, boosted by income from a stake sale in Visa Europe.

In economic releases, the euro area private sector expanded more than estimated in July, final survey data from Markit showed with the final composite output index rising to a 6-month high of 53.2 in July from 53.1 in June. According to the flash estimate, the index fell to 52.9.

Overall growth was primarily driven by an accelerated rate of output expansion in Germany. While rates of growth moderated in Italy and Spain, France continued to hover around the stagnation mark.

Another report from Eurostat showed that Eurozone retail sales remained flat as expected in June. Sales remained stable in June from May, when it climbed 0.4 percent. On an annual basis, retail sales growth held steady at 1.6 percent in June.