(fxcue news) - Renewed concerns about economic activity and growth in France as well as the wider Euro Area dragged down the CAC 40 benchmark below the levels at close on Thursday. HCOB PMI readings recorded unexpected declines and slipped deeper into the contraction territory. Manufacturing PMI which was seen steady at 44.5 unexpectedly declined to 43.2. Services PMI which was expected to continue at 51.6 declined to 49.4. The composite reading also showed 47.3, below the status quo of 48.6 that the markets were expecting. Amidst the weak data from both Germany and France, the PMI indicators for the Euro Area also suffered unexpected declines. The CAC-40 is currently trading at 7,196.68, slipping 0.23 percent from the previous close of 7,213.32. The day's trading has been between 7,263.08 and 7,156.23. Amidst the economic worries, only 20 scrips in the index that tracks the 40 largest French stocks based on the Euronext Paris are trading above the flatline. Eurofins Scientific topped gains with a surge of 1.6 percent. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Teleperformance, Publicis Groupe and Sanofi have all gained more than a percent. Thales plunged 6.6 percent amidst reports of an investigation by U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority. BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, have all declined more than 2 percent. With the dollar index jumping close to half a percent, the EUR/USD pair has slipped 0.51 percent to 1.0419 percent after ranging between 1.0499 and 1.0333. The EUR/GBP pair however edged up 0.08 percent to 0.8327. The yen's strength however dragged down the EUR/JPY pair 0.65 percent to 160.83. In alignment with global trend of easing, yields on France's ten-year bonds eased more than 2 percent to 3.033 percent from the level of 3.096 percent at the previous close. Yields dropped to the lowest in about a month after ranging between 3.129 percent and 3.027 percent.