- Bank of Spain takes 60bn hit for rescue of banking sector
- Amazon revolutionises supermarket sector with purchase of Whole Foods
The Ibex 35 closed on Friday 0.56% higher at 10,759.40 points. In a session marked by the release of support to Greece and the quarterly sale of derivatives, the Spanish stock exchange enjoyed a peaceful day. The index, however, ends the week lower by 2%.
- 11.154,600
- 1,56%
Ferrovial (+2.09%), Viscofan (+1.94%) and Amadeus (+1.81%) led the advances in the index, while Gamesa (-1.95%) and Bankia (-2.06%) were the worst performers. Among the heavyweight stocks, Santander fell 0.56%. On the other side, BBVA was 0.19% higher, Inditex 0.69%, Telefonica 0.77% and Iberdrola 1.76%.
All this comes on a day when the Bank if Spain put a figure of 60bn euros of public money spent during the banking bailout. The net support of the rescue reached 76.14bn euros. From this figure, 4.139m euros has been recovered and the central bank estimates the total amount recoverable is 12.198m.
Concerning the fall of Popular, Emilio Saracho told Expansión that he has avoided entering an argument with Angel Ron, after the latter’s interview with El Independiente. Saracho merely pointed out that he had tried to save Banco Popular and that shareholders have every right to present demands.
In addition, Abertis rose 1.16% and is now above 16.50 euros, after closing at 16.61. Analysts at Bankinter recommended turning towards the OPA and expects the Italian group to improve its offer to 18 euros per share.
In the international scene, Amazon (+3%) has revolutionised the supermarkets ector in the US after announcing the purchase of Whole Foods Market (+27%) for almost $14bn. Other big supermarket groups like Walmart and Costco fell 7% against the fear that investors will flock towards the ecommerce giant. Nestle is evaluating the potential sale of its sweet business to bolster its portfolio.
The news on Thursday was that the Eurogroup of finance ministers reached an agreement which will release 8.5bn euros to Greece. Greece was one of the biggest problems of 2017, and it appears as if that decision allows it breathing space to recover. With the latest bailout, the country will be able to make payments for July, which are above 7.4bn euros.
The International Monetary Fund has agreed to join the rescue program with an investment of at least $2bn. However, it will not release the funds until the eurozone details the measures it will take to alleviate Greek debt., something which is not expected to be known until next year.
The rest of the European markets, which finished with losses yesterday, closed moderately higher like the Ibex. Friday will see the second ‘four hour witch’ of the year, the sale of options and futures on both sides of the Atlantic, and volatility usually goes hand-in-hand.
The Bank of Japan decided to stand pat on its monetary policy, as did the Bank of England yesterday. Eurozone cPI was reduced 5 points to 1.4%, according to the second estimation from statistics office Eurostat.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
“We think that the end of the current corrective phase might be the end of teh correction in general. What’s more, after that the logical thing would be an attack from the Ibex towards 11,185 points, and above the highs of 2015,” said José María Rodríguez, analyst at Bolsamanía.
“What we want to try to understand is that if this comes to pass, would we find ourselves looking at the lows of the current phase, and if we can restructure a new upward trend in the next few months. Remember that the prices in the markets always move in phases (action, and reaction).”
