CAC 40 Rises As Investors Digest FOMC Minutes

(RTTNews) - French shares inched higher on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting showed policymakers are waiting for more data before considering an interest rate increase.

Data on French unemployment, U.K. retail sales and Eurozone inflation also painted a positive picture of regional economies, helping underpin investor sentiment.

Preliminary figures from statistical agency Insee showed that French unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in almost four years in the second quarter, ahead of the country's presidential election next year.

Unemployment on mainland France and its overseas territories fell to 9.9 percent from 10.2 percent in the previous three months.

While U.K. retail sales rose strongly in July after the Brexit vote, final data from Eurostat showed that Eurozone Inflation rose to 0.2 percent in July from 0.1 percent in June, as initially estimated. This marks the second straight month of increase in the headline inflation rate.

The European Central Bank is set to publish monetary policy accounts from its latest meeting later in the day.

The benchmark CAC 40 index was up 13 points or 0.31 percent at 4,431 in late opening deals after declining 1 percent in the previous session.

Among top performers, Cap Gemini, Vinci, Valeo, LafargeHolcim, Publicis Groupe, Schneider Electric and Technip rose about 1 percent each.