March 2 (Bloomberg) -- French stocks gained, led by Air Liquide SA and Accor SA.

The CAC 40 Index added 10.63, or 0.2 percent to 5469.03 at 10:15 a.m. in Paris. The broader SBF 120 Index gained 9.87, or 0.3 percent to 4007.06.

Air Liquide SA advanced 2.6 percent to 173.1 euros. Neil Tyler, a London-based analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., raised his price estimate for shares of the world's second-largest maker of industrial gases by 7.5 percent to 215 euros.

Air Liquide's plans to step up investment will ``generate value'' even if it delays an increase in return on invested capital in the short term, Tyler wrote in a note to investors.

Accor added 0.5 percent to 67.44 euros. Europe's biggest hotel company said it will expand the number of Ibis hotels under development in China to 40 from six by 2008, tapping demand for budget travel in one of the world's fastest-growing tourism markets.

European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. lost 1.3 percent to 24.31 euros. Airbus SAS, EADS's commercial-aircraft division, postponed the freighter version of its A380 superjumbo jet after customers dropped or deferred their orders.

Lagardere SCA, France's largest publisher, dropped 5.1 percent to 58.79 euros, paring a 6.7 percent surge in the previous session. The shares jumped in the last minutes of trading yesterday after a trader mistakenly bought the shares instead of stock in M6-Metropole Television SA, Le Figaro said on its Web site.

The following stocks also rose or fell. Stock symbols are in parentheses.

Alstom SA (ALO FP) added 0.8 percent to 89.6 euros. The world's third-biggest maker of power stations won two contracts worth a total of 103 million euros ($136 million) to supply hydropower equipment to plants in Ecuador and Venezuela.

Itesoft SA (ITE FP) tumbled 5.7 percent to 2.79 euros. The software developer reported a 600,000 euro net loss for 2006, compared with a 200,000 euro profit a year earlier, as sales fell.

Rallye SA (RAL FP) advanced 1.2 percent to 40.2 euros. Rallye, which controls the supermarket operator Casino Guichard- Perrachon SA, paid 47 million euros to raise its stake in the company to 49 percent.

SEB SA (SK FP) retreated 1 percent to 122.8 euros. HSBC Holdings Plc cut its recommendation on shares of the world's biggest maker of countertop kitchen appliances to ``underweight'' from ``neutral.''

Societe Television Francaise 1 (TFI FP) gained 1.6 percent to 25.76 euros. Citigroup Inc. lifted its recommendation on shares of the broadcaster to ``hold'' from ``sell.''

Sodexho SA (SW FP) increased 1.1 percent to 52.48 euros. Merrill Lynch & Co. raised its recommendation on shares of the world's second-largest caterer to ``buy'' from ``neutral.''

Sword Group SA (SWP FP) added 0.5 percent to 40.2 euros. The business software developer raised 57.5 million euros by selling 1.44 million shares at 40 euros each and said the proceeds may increase to 66.1 million euros. The shares begin trading March 9.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ludwig Burger in Zurich at lburger2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 2, 2007 04:22 EST