London overtakes Paris as largest European stock market

Slogan of London Stock Exchange

The recent political turmoil in France led Paris to lose its position as the largest stock market in Europe, with London moving to the top spot to reclaim the title it lost less than two years ago under pressure, including political tensions.

This came after French President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise announcement last week to hold early elections, which caused severe selling pressure in the market, wiping out about $258 billion of the market capitalization of French companies.

Banks holding many French government bonds including, Société Générale, BNP Paribas, and Credit Agricole, saw their stocks lose about 10% each over the past week.

The total value of French stocks currently stands at nearly $3.13 trillion, behind the United Kingdom (UK) that is worth $3.18 trillion and is the sixth largest stock market in the world at present.

The French CAC 40 wiped off all its gains for 2024, in a sharp flip from the trend that pushed it towards record high levels a month ago. The British FTSE 100 index is still close to its record level it hit this year.