Paris overtakes London as most valuable stock market in Europe

The combined value of shares listed on the French stock market has overtaken the value of those listed on the United Kingdom’s for the first time since records began in 2003, allowing to Paris to overtake London as the most valuable stock market in Europe and striking a blow to the City of London’s prestige.

This represents a stunning reversal of fortunes, with the London Stock exchange being more about $1.4 trillion more than its Parisian rival as recently as 2016.

The total value of French shares is now around $2.823 trillion, compared to the $2.821 trillion combined worth of British shares.

The gap had been narrowing between the French and UK stock markets since the Brexit vote in 2016 and was compounded in late September when investors rejected the policies of then-Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The Parisian Euronext has benefitted from the presence of luxury goods makers like LVMH (parent company of Louis Vuitton, as well as Dior, Givenchy, TAG Heuer, Bulgari, and a host of others, which has seen its share price increase by 22 per cent in the last six months), Hermès (up 37 per cent over the same period), and Gucci owner Kering.

China’s appetite for European markers of wealth has shown no indication of abating, and has been boosted by news that the country with a population of 1.4 billion could relax its zero-COVID strategy.

Chinese shoppers accounted for around 35% of global demand for luxury goods before the pandemic, according to Bloomberg data.

Meanwhile, although the euro has fallen to parity with the dollar for the first time since its inception (a drop of nine per cent), this drop is nonetheless less sharp than that experienced by the pound (13 per cent).

Chinese shoppers accounted for around 35% of global demand for luxury goods before the pandemic, according to Bloomberg data.

The UK is the only G7 nation whose economy is still smaller than it was before the pandemic, and it is expected to fall into recession by the end of the year.