The Paris Bourse is set to open with no real trend on Wednesday morning, as no current element seems able to dictate a trajectory for the equity markets.

At around 8:15 a.m., the 'future' contract - for June delivery - on the CAC 40 index was up 10 points at 7222.5 points, suggesting only a slight rise at the opening.

After spending most of yesterday's session in the red, the Paris index had timidly lifted its head in the last few minutes of trading, finally clawing back 0.1% to 7209 points.

The day was once again marked by an obvious weakness in trading volumes, with just 2.5 billion euros handled, reflecting the lack of conviction among traders.

In the absence of any major indicators or results to sink their teeth into during this lacklustre week, investors are tempted to curb their appetite rather than risk losing their recent gains.

Since the start of the year, the CAC 40 is still up by more than 11%, but is down by almost 5% since its all-time high of April 21, at 7577 points.

While the index has so far managed to defend the symbolic 7,200-point threshold, analysts warn that it will be difficult for it to move up again in the absence of new catalysts.

"Over the next few weeks, the market is likely to remain volatile as it awaits clearer indications of future developments", predicts Gilles Guibout, head of European equities at AXA IM.

Economic, first of all, to understand what impact the current slowdown could have on corporate earnings", stresses the strategist.

"Financial, secondly, to see what the central banks' next decisions on monetary policy will be, in order to determine what the appropriate valuation multiple should be", he adds.

At a time when stock markets are beginning to show signs of fatigue, particularly in the United States where the recent Nasdaq rally is running out of steam, it seems hard to predict where the next growth factor will come from.

Apart from German industrial production and the US trade balance, there are no major indicators on today's agenda.

A glimmer of hope from Asia could, however, shed some light on the current feverish market sentiment.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 1.7% late Wednesday, with investors betting on further stimulus measures in China to bolster the fragile post-Covid economic recovery.

On Wall Street, the main indices ended with token gains on Tuesday evening in a directionless market in the absence of economic indicators.

At the final bell, the Dow Jones was close to equilibrium, while the Nasdaq nibbled 0.4% and the S&P 500 gained 0.2%.

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