French stocks rose on Friday to extend gains from the previous session, as signs of cooling consumer price and producer price inflation stoked expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon pause its aggressive interest rate-hike cycle.
Closer home, France's consumer price inflation eased slightly less than initially estimated in March to the lowest level in six months amid a sharp slowdown in energy costs, preliminary data from the statistical office Insee showed.
The consumer price index climbed 5.7 percent year-over-year in March, slower than the 6.3 percent rise in February. That was just above the 5.6 percent growth seen in the flash data published on March 31.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.9 percent in March, after a 1.0 percent increase in the prior month. In the initial estimate, the rate of increase was 0.8 percent.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 20 points, or 0.3 percent, at 7,500 after rallying 1.1 percent on Thursday.
Hermes climbed 1.3 percent after the Birkin bag maker reported a better-than-expected 23 percent rise in first-quarter sales.
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