Paris riots hurt French tourism and transport stocks

Reuters  |  LONDON/PARIS 

By Helen and Sudip Kar-Gupta

Supermarket and were the worst-performing, down 2.1 and 2.6 percent respectively. Shares in and Air fell by 1.6 and 2.7 percent.

Nationwide protests against fuel taxes and living costs, known as the "yellow vest" movement after fluorescent jackets kept in all vehicles in France, escalated on Saturday as rioters ran amok across central Paris, torching cars and looting shops.

Investors and traders connected the stock falls to investors' unease over the potential impact riots could have on the economy and on tourists' appetite to visit the capital.

"is falling, and it is fair to say that investors are wondering if there will be cancellations at their hotels," said Jerome Schupp, a at Geneva-based firm

"It's not good to see those images of a capital," said a "It could hurt the economy."

Autoroutes said the "yellow vest" protests were continuing to have a impact, although it did not specify any figures in a press release on Monday morning.

Traders said the gets from its motorway concessions could be hit by the protests, which have blocked toll roads across

Oil Total said on Monday several dozen of its gasoline stations had run dry as a more than two-week long protest over fuel tax hikes began to impact fuel reserves and distribution.

The falls came even as France's top stock index climbed 1.7 percent, on track for its best day in a month after a truce in the U.S.-trade war lifted global markets.

(Reporting by Helen and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by and Ed Osmond)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, December 03 2018. 16:50 IST