- Banco Santander rose almost 4% and BBVA by 3%
- Banco Popular fell by 0.86% despite banking sector performance
- European stocks celebrated the decision by the Fed and Dutch election results
The Ibex 35 once again closed above 10,000 points and hit highs not seen since December 2015, after gaining 1.85% on Thursday to finish the session on 10,168 points. The banking sector performed well , with the Spanish index celebrating the news of the Federal Reserve’s rate hike and the victory of Mark Rutte in the Netherlands.
- 10.854,400
- -2,22%
Banco Santander was the best performer after rising 3.72% to 5.6 euros. Another heavyweight, BBVA, registered the second biggest gain of the day of 3.14%, arriving at 7 euros. The rest of the banks all had a good day, with Banco Sabadell gaining 2.99%, Caixabank 1.39% and Bankia 0.47%.
However, Banco Popular closed the day with a fall of 0.86% to 0.82 euros. As expected, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates in its first major movement in the Trump era, the first of the three it hopes to make this year. For the majority it was a decision which was already priced into the markets. Some speculate that they could even attempt four increases throughout 2017.
On the other side of the table, all the heavyweights of the Ibex 35 performed well. Telefonica rose 2.24% to 10.47 euros, and Repsol advancing 1.47% to 14.4 euros, pushed on by the rise in the price of oil, even though at the hour of close for European markets it was quoting slight losses. Inditex also closed positive, 0.88% to 31.6 euros, a day after publishing its fiscal results for 2016.
Ferrovial’s gain of 1.89% must also be recognised, after its president Rafael del Pino pledged 3.8 million shares as security.
Apart from Banco Popular, only two stocks closed in the red. Mediaset, which was the worst performer of the day, dropped 1% to 11.39 euros, and Tecnicas Ruidas fell 0.42% to 36.6 euros.
In the general stock exchange, Sacyr was one of the big talking points. The company gained 1.79% to 2.39 euros, after investors alleviated the pressure on the firm following recent losses. Blackrock and Marshall Wace broke the tendency of increasing their short positions this week.
OTHER MARKETS
All European markets closed with gains on Thursday after the victory for Dutch PM Mark Rutte in the country’s elections.
The Ftse 100 in London closed 0.43% higher after the Bank of England decided to stand pat on interest rates, as expected by the market. The Dax 30 in Germany rose 0.43% and the Cac 40 in France gained 0.42%.
The euro continues to regain strength against the dollar and has hit highs of more than five weeks. The common currency rose 0.05% against the greenback to 1.0740.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Strong gains of 1.85% for the Ibex 35 which allows it to finish in annual highs. From the lows of last year the Spanish index has gained 10% and comes close to the level of 10,200 points. César Nuez, Bolsamanía technical analyst, points out that the rises of the past few weeks must be judged carefully.
“We won’t see a complication technically while the lower mark remains above 9,886 points, the lows of last Tuesday,” he added.
