Ajaccio came from a goal behind to deny Saint-Etienne victory at the Stade Francois Coty.
The home side started the brighter and went close after 10 minutes when Samuel Bouhours and Eduardo picked the Saint-Etienne defence with a neat one-two.
However, Stephane Ruffier was equal to Bouhours's effort to keep the scores level.
Guillermo Ochoa made a fingertip save at the other end after Bakary Sako's cross looked destined to be pounced upon by Max Gradel.
Fousseni Diawara headed over from point-blank range in the second half before Florent Sinama-Pongolle broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute.
The home side struck back six minutes later when Carl Medjani rose to meet Christian Kinkela's centre.
Neither team could force a winner and had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Michael Penkman
