Jul 26. () –
The Ibex 35 broke away from the upward trend in Europe at midday on Friday, falling 0.3% to 11,110.7 points, on a day marked by the publication of business results and the Active Population Survey (EPA) in Spain.
The Spanish index started the session on the downside and fell below 11,100 points, but recovered that level in the middle of trading as losses eased.
The Spanish index thus provisionally advanced 0.25% this week and will end this period with an eye on the publication this afternoon in the United States of the PCE inflation for June, one of the reference measures of the Federal Reserve (Fed) when it comes to guiding its monetary policy.
Before the start of the trading session this Friday, Mapfre has informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that it obtained a net profit of 462 million euros in the first half of the year, a figure 46% higher than that of the same period in 2023.
Prosegur Cash, for its part, recorded a consolidated net profit of 38 million euros up to June, which represents an increase of 2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Skoda has also sent a new communication to Talgo in which it clarifies that its intention is not to privatise the company or launch, therefore, an alternative counter-offer to the Hungarian Magyar Vagon, but that its objective is to negotiate an “industrial combination” between both companies.
Finally, it is worth noting that Endesa sold yesterday at market close 49.99% of the share capital of Enel Green Power España Solar 1 (EGPE Solar) – its solar energy business in Spain, which has a total installed capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW) – to the renewable energy group from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Masdar for 817 million euros, the company reported yesterday in a statement sent to the CNMV.
In the macroeconomic field, the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the second quarter of the year was released at the beginning of the day, when unemployment fell by 222,600 people, which is almost 7.5% less than in the previous quarter, while employment increased by 434,700 jobs (+2%).
At the end of June, the total number of unemployed people stood at 2,755,300 people, with the unemployment rate at 11.27%, the lowest since 2008, with a decrease of more than one point in the last quarter. At the same time, the number of employed people reached a new historical high, with 21,684,700 workers.
Given this situation, in the middle part of the trading, the biggest rises within the Ibex 35 were recorded by Fluidra (+2.33%), Mapfre (+1.2%) and Cellnex (+1.15%), while on the other hand the most notable ‘red lanterns’ were Naturgy (-1.05%), Unicaja (-0.97%) and Acerinox (-0.93%).
On the continuous market, Alantra Partners led the declines with a 3% drop after announcing that it earned three million euros in the first half of the year, a 26% decrease.
The main European stock markets were rowing in the opposite direction to the Spanish indicator at midday: Milan added 0.16%; Frankfurt 0.25%; London 0.6% and Paris 0.85%.
At the same time, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the benchmark for the Old Continent, stood at $82.02, down 0.42%, while Texas crude fell 0.47% to $77.9.
On the foreign exchange market, the euro appreciated by 0.1% against the dollar, to 1.0856 greenbacks, while the interest required on the 10-year Spanish bond was trading at 3.252% after adding two basis points, while the risk premium with respect to the German bond was at 81.5 points.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin gained 3.2% to trade at $67,400.
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