Paris - French shares were holding on to gains in mid-afternoon trading on Monday but banking and environmental stocks continued to lose ground.

The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 blue-chip index was up 1.45 per cent, to 3,378.27, with advancing issues outpacing fallers by 3 to 1.

The winners were led by energy supplier GDF Suez, which was up 9.44 per cent, to 32.16 euros, while French-American telecommunications supplier Alcatel-Lucent rose 
8.33 per cent, to 2.04 euros.

The green group Veolia Environnement was down more than 21 per cent, to 18.40 euros, after issuing a profit warning because the economic slowdown was hurting its businesses.

The effect of the imminent recession on environmental programs was also dragging down the share price of Suez Environnment, which slid by more than 6 per cent.

In addition, French bank Societe Generale was down 9.19 per cent, to 41.13 euros, on persistent rumours that it would require an injection of capital. (dpa)