AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

The French economy stagnated in the third quarter, slowing far more sharply than expected from the second quarter's blistering pace of growth and spurring analysts to trim eurozone growth forecasts.
Data on Friday gave an unchanged reading for the euro zone's second biggest economy, well under the consensus forecast of 0.5 percent growth and the worst performance since the second quarter of 2005 - bad news for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's government before 2007 presidential elections. "It's a bolt from the blue," said Nicolas Bouzou, director of economic studies at Asteres consulting firm in Paris.
The data, which helped eurozone government bonds and Euribor futures to rally, was the first estimate of growth from one of the bigger euro zone economies and an indication of how it weathered headwinds from abroad as the US economy slowed.
INSEE said French growth in the second quarter was an unversed 1.2 percent and calculated the economy would grow by at least 1.9 percent in the full year.
The government has predicted full-year growth would be between 2 and 2.5 percent. Economists said the final figure was now likely be nearer the bottom of the range and not the top, as Finance Minister Thierry Breton has predicted.
The Bank of France and INSEE were also caught off guard by the data. Last month they forecast third quarter growth of 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.
INSEE data showed industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.9 percent in September, defying economists' expectations of an increase of 0.4 percent.
The Customs Office reported the trade deficit narrowed to 1.348 billion euros in September from a revised 2.872 billion euros in August but the deficit for the year to date remained wider than in the same period a year earlier. Lower energy prices also had an impact on inflation data. Consumer prices fell 0.2 percent in October compared with the previous month.

Copyright Reuters, 2006

Comments

Comments are closed.