- President of the Generalitat reiterated his call for dialogue and threatened to launch vote
- Government responded that it will press ahead with Article 155
The Ibex 35 fell once again amidst uncertainty in Catalonia. The index was the worst index in Europe, falling 0.74% on Thursday and fell once again below 10,200 points. All this comes after the ambiguous response from Carles Puigdemont who asked for more dialogue and threatened a parliamentary vote for Catalan independence.
- 11.154,600
- 1,56%
The government replied that it would press ahead with the measures to implement Article 155. The index moved to the tune of the ‘ping-pong’ between the government and the Generalitat, although it appears the impact of each decision is waning. Investors are beginning to realised that the Catalonia topic is for the long-term and they will have to live with it.
WAR FOR ABERTIS
In the company sense, without doubt ACS’ offer for Abertis remains the big news. There has been talk of a ‘war’ for the company after seeing how the market reacted on Wednesday.
Abertis was down 0.32% to 18.78 euros. While its affiliate Cellnex led the gains with a high of 1.73%, followed by ACS, which was up 1.19% to 33.45 euros.
Apart from Cellnex and ACS, companies such as ArcelorMittal(+0.96%), Mapfre (+0.34%) and Iberdrola (+0.27%) were up. Inmobiliaria Colonial was the biggest loser after falling 2.36%, while Sabadell was down 1.68%. Caixabank was down 1.5% and Merlin by 1.17%, the main hampers of the index today.
Other big stocks such as Telefónica (-1.56%), Banco Santander (-1.21%), Inditex(-1.17%) and BBVA (-0.76%) were down also.
In the general exchange, shares in Pescanova bounced 32% after revealing its annual accounts closed on 30 November 2016. Atresmedia fell 1.78% to 8.85 euros, despite achieving a profit of 103m euros, 1.9% more.
BREXIT, THE PROTAGONIST
Away from Spain, Brexit is also occupying investors’ attention in a day in which the European Union meets in Brussels with little expectations of advancing talks with the UK. Bloomberg reported this week that the division in the British government is causing issues between the two sides.
In fact, the euro, which initially resented Carles Puigdemont’s answer on Thursday, rebounded from these levels to increase its record this week to $1.1848.
With respect to the data of the day, UK retail sales fell in September more than expected (-0.08%). In addition, the Spanish treasury has brought together 4.526bn euros in bonds and obligations. On the other hand, the US published unemployment data and members of the Federal Reserve will speak later today.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
José María Rodríguez, technical analyst at Bolsamanía, said that there is another day at the office for the Ibex. “We have been like this for a month without the price telling us anything. The tendency in the last five months keeps being corrective in regard to the highs and lows, and as well as the impeccable lower channel which has remained during that time.”
According to the expert, “what we are seeing in recent days is that there is little appetite for rising high, but neither for going lower. The range of prices is stretching and probably sooner rather than later we can expect a more violent price break that we are accustomed to.”
