The Paris Bourse is set to open lower on Friday morning, but is heading for another week of gains, even if its favorable momentum is weakening slightly over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

At around 8:15 a.m., the future contract on the CAC 40 index - December delivery - was down 0.5 points at 7,278 points, heralding a slightly lower start to the session.

After a lacklustre day on Thursday, the trend is likely to remain very quiet again today, reflecting the lack of activity in Europe when the US markets are closed.

For this last session of the week, investors should again avoid taking risks, given that Wall Street will close its doors at lunchtime.

US markets will only reopen for a short session on Black Friday, the day that kicks off the holiday trading frenzy.

For the week as a whole, the CAC 40 is currently up 0.6%, still well above its major resistance level of 7250 points, while the Euro STOXX 50 index is up around 0.5% since Monday morning.

The chartists at Kiplink Finance, who refer to a "technically perfect" bullish configuration, believe that the CAC's resistance enables it to envisage a rapid breakout above the 7310/7340 point upper zone.

"At this pace, we could soon be talking about an annual record again", predicts the Paris-based brokerage firm.

In the absence of catalysts, risk appetite remains fuelled by the hope of a lull in interest rates.

The ECB's 'minutes', published yesterday, showed that the Governing Council was ready for further rate hikes, even if this option does not correspond to its baseline scenario.

The PMI indices unveiled on Thursday showed that activity in the eurozone contracted for the sixth consecutive month in November, further reinforcing the likelihood of a recession, a scenario that the ECB is seeking to avoid at all costs.

Against this backdrop, investors will be keeping a particularly close eye on Germany's Ifo business climate index, due to be published later this morning.

In the USA, the only indicator on today's menu is the PMI index, which seems to have stabilized slightly above the critical 50-point threshold since September.

On the face of it, this balance signals a moderation in the pace of GDP growth after an exceptional third quarter (+4.9%).

On the currency markets, the euro is still retreating slightly against the dollar, above the 1.09 threshold, but is heading for slight gains over the week as a whole.

Crude oil prices are hesitant as investors' attention gradually turns to Vienna, where ministers from OPEC and its allies will decide on their production strategy next week.

Brent crude oil nibbles 0.1% to $81.5 a barrel, while US light crude (WTI, West Texas Intermediate) drops 0.7% to $76.5.

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