CAC 40 Up 37 Points As Oil Inches Higher On Supply Worries

(RTTNews) - French shares rose on Friday as investors shrugged off the Fed's rate hike signals and turned their attention to the G7 meeting of central bankers and finance ministers that could provide some clarity over the conduct of global monetary and fiscal policies. Higher oil and metal prices also offered some support.

On a relatively light economic calendar day, a report from the European Central Bank revealed that the euro zone's current account surplus widened to hit a four-month high in March, thanks to higher exports of goods. The current account surplus increased to 27.3 billion euros from 19.2 billion euros in February.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 37 points or 0.88 percent at 4,320 in late opening deals after declining 0.9 percent on Thursday.

Banks Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale Group rose over 1 percent each.

Oil & gas company Total SA gained nearly 2 percent, retail chain Carrefour advanced 1.5 percent and cosmetics company L'Oreal rose a little over 1 percent.