Vallourec Share Falls Nearly 2% and Drops Below Its Moving Averages
Vallourec closes Monday's session in the red, in a Paris market also oriented downward. The stock is now trading below all of its moving averages, while Brent exceeds 107 dollars, driven by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
A Decline That Anchors the Stock Below the 20-Day MA Despite Strong Brent Gains
Vallourec falls 1.83% to €18.20 at close, while the SBF 120 declines 0.84% at the same time. The stock is below its 20-day MA at €18.32 (gap of -0.68%), its 50-day MA at €19.50 (gap of -6.69%) and its 200-day MA at €20.13 (gap of -9.61%): the three moving benchmarks now form continuous resistance above the price. The RSI at 49 remains in neutral territory and does not yet signal particular selling exhaustion, which leaves open the possibility of a continuation of the movement toward the support level at €17.59.
This decline occurs while Brent advances by nearly 3% to $107.65 per barrel during the session, driven by Houthi attacks against the Saudi East-West pipeline and persistent tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. The divergence between crude gains and the stock's decline illustrates that other factors weigh on valuation in the short term, beyond oil prices alone. Over one month, Vallourec remains nearly flat (+0.36%), but the three-month balance reaches -26.07%, an underlying pressure that conditions the reading of any potential rebound.
Two Recent Strategic Agreements and a Rise in Short Positions to Monitor
In recent news, Vallourec signed on September 9 a new OCTG tube supply agreement with Aramco, as part of the Franco-Saudi investment roundtable held in Paris, extending a commercial relationship dating back to 1962. Two days later, the group announced the launch of construction of a production line dedicated to subsea thermal insulation technology at its Serra site in Brazil, under ExxonMobil license. These two operations testify to solid commercial anchoring in the upstream oil sector, without having halted the downward pressure on the share price over recent weeks.
In parallel, net short positions declared by three funds have risen rapidly: they now reach 1.96% of capital according to reported declarations, compared to 0.95% thirty days ago, a doubling in one month. This rapid increase of more than one percentage point indicates that institutional investors are positioning against the stock or seeking to hedge an existing exposure, a signal to follow without drawing definitive conclusions about the future direction of the share. The support level at €17.59 remains the closest reference zone on the chart.
