EURONEXT PARIS: French Stock Exchange overtaken by London
Photo credit: CC/Thomon
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has regained its traditional ranking as the largest and most valuable in Europe.
In 2016, for instance, the LSE was worth $1.4 trillion (€1.3 trillion) more than Euronext Paris but was overtaken in 2022. That was partly due to the chaos caused by short-lived PM Liz Truss’s mini-Budget, allied to a weak pound, the spectre of recession and Brexit.
Now the LSE is back on top with listed companies worth $3.18 trillion (approximately €2.95 trillion) compared with the French market’s $3.13 trillion (€2.9 trillion).
According to valuations based on Bloomberg data, London and Paris are still neck-and-neck, but City experts called the latest figures “a milestone.”
They pointed out that the French market was tumbling owing to the uncertainty surrounding the snap generation election that a rattled President Emmanuel Macron called in the wake of the June 9 European elections.
As a result, the market capitalisation of French companies fell by $258 billion (€340 billion), allowing London to regain pole position. Shares in Societe Generale and BNP Paribas have fallen by around 7 per cent, while France’s CAC 40 share index experienced its sharpest weekly fall since 2022.
Despite a number of companies that have chosen to list in the US, and others rumoured to be on the point of doing so, the “demise” of London’s stock market had been “massively overstated”, according to UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
“We do have challenges, and we’re addressing those challenges,” he assured the Wall Street Journal Chief Executives summit in May.
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