French shares end fractionally weaker .
PARIS 1996-08-27
French shares ended fractionally weaker as unease about union unrest slated for the autumn and a weaker franc got the better of a slight rise on Wall Street .
The blue-chip CAC-40 index ended 2.43 points or 0.12 percent lower at 2,017.99 points after a brief foray into positive territory when the New York stock market opened higher .
The broader SBF-120 index closed 1.19 points or 0.08 percent lower at 1,421.90 points .
Market turnover was 3.8 billion francs , about average for the quiet August period , including 2.6 billion on the most actively traded CAC-40 shares .
The Socialist CFDT union warned of " tension and conflict " when France returns to work after the summer break and called for a drive to create up to 500,000 jobs in nine months .
A teachers ' union , the Federation Syndicale Unitaire ( FSU ) , called for members to protest against job cuts expected in the government 's austerity budget due to be unveiled in September .
Anxieties over the budget niggled the currency markets where the franc lost around half a centime from Monday 's late European levels to 3.4211 per mark .
Index heavyweights Elf and Rhone Poulenc both ended slightly weaker while active Eurotunnel was unchanged on nearly a million shares traded .
" People are morose and it 's not the post-holiday period or the budget or company results that are going to lift anyone 's spirits , " a broker said .
* UIC , part of insurer GAN , slid 12.19 percent to 55.1 francs after reporting a net attributable first-half loss of 758 million francs after the close on Monday .
Markets were disappointed by a recapitalisation of 800 million francs which commentators said was larger than expected .
* Supermarkets group Carrefour gained 2.19 percent to 2,616 francs after brokers Cheuvreux de Virieu confirmed the stock on their buy list , a fund manager said .
* Reinsurance group Scor gained 2.1 percent to 202 francs on news that British insurer Prudential had sold its Mercantile & General reinsurance business to Swiss Re .
* Conglomerate Bollore lost 2.4 percent to 521 francs after a morning trading suspension during which it said it had approved plans to buy out its 73.83 percent owned transport unit Scac Delmas Vileujeux ( SDV ) and invited shareholders to tender their shares .
* Alcatel Alsthom fell 1.7 percent to 395.0 .
* Opthalmic products manufacturer Essilor gained 2.6 percent to 1,328 francs after Oakley Inc of the United States said it had been granted an option to buy the non-prescription lens production unit of Gentext Optics Inc , an Essilor International subsidiary .
-- Paris newsroom +331 4221 5452