The Ibex 35 closes ‘in a tie’, despite the banks’ sprint

4 Jul. () –

The Ibex 35 closed this Thursday with a slight rise of 0.09%, reaching 11,066.3 points, despite the pull of banking stocks and the falls of Iberdrola and Repsol – whose prices have been affected by the ‘ex-dividend’ effect – on a day in which the markets have not had the reference of Wall Street as the Independence Day holiday was celebrated in the United States.

The Spanish index has sailed indecisively through the day: in the morning it fell and put the 11,000-point level at risk, before finally recovering and making timid advances in the afternoon.

Within the scant ‘macroeconomic’ agenda this Thursday, it has been learned that only one of the members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) opposed the decision to lower interest rates at the entity’s last meeting, although during the discussions held there were several councilors who expressed their doubts regarding the ongoing disinflation process in order to reach the target of 2% by 2025 and whether a rate cut in June would be in line with the principle of dependence on data, according to the minutes of the organization’s last meeting.

The summary of the meeting held by the ECB’s governing body on 4 and 5 June confirms the existence of a dissenting position within the Governing Council when it came to lowering interest rates, a decision that was ultimately adopted, but suggests a much more intense debate on the matter and on the future path to be adopted.

It is worth noting that yesterday it was announced – with the European market already closed – that the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) were divided over how long to maintain interest rates in the current target range of 5.25% to 5.5%, according to the minutes of the meeting held on June 12.

Back on the Old Continent, it was announced on Thursday that new orders in Germany’s manufacturing sector fell by 1.6% in May compared to the previous month, when they fell by 0.6%, thus accumulating five consecutive monthly declines, according to information provided on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Investors will also be keeping an eye on the political situation, as the UK elections are taking place today and the French elections will follow on Sunday.

On the other hand, the European Union is preparing to impose provisional tariffs of up to almost 38% on battery-electric cars imported from China starting this Thursday, July 4, a measure that comes after weeks of fruitless contacts between Brussels and Beijing to find a solution to the subsidies received by Chinese manufacturers and which Europeans see as an “unfair” advantage against their brands.

Banco Sabadell Chairman Josep Oliu has also called on BBVA to publish “clear, transparent and complete” information on all elements that may have an impact on the value offered in the takeover bid (OPA) launched for the entity he presides.

Grifols has also appointed Rahul Srinivasan, a former Bank of America executive, as its new CFO, replacing Alfredo Arroyo, who has decided to retire after 17 years with the company, the company said in a statement.

In this context, the declines in the selective index have been led by Iberdrola and Repsol, which have lost 3.62% and 1.94%, respectively, due to the ‘ex-dividend’ effect, while Aena has completed the list of declines with a drop of 0.1%.

On the earnings side, CaixaBank (+2.56%), Bankinter (+2.56%), Grifols (+2.49%), Banco Santander (+2%), Enagás (+1.94%) and Acciona (+1.64%) stood out. Other banks, such as Unicaja and Banco Sabadell, gained more than 1% in the session.

Progress has been the common denominator in Europe: Frankfurt has added 0.41%; Milan 0.77%; Paris 0.83% and London 0.86%.

On the commodities market, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil rose by 0.23% at the close in Europe, to $87.54, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil reached $83.97, up 0.11%.

In the debt market, the yield on the 10-year Spanish bond closed at 3.392% after gaining two basis points, while the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) stood at 78.8 points.

As for currencies, the euro appreciated by 0.25% against the dollar, trading at an exchange rate of 1.0812 dollars per unit of the common currency.

Gold also stood out by rising to around $2,360, levels from two weeks ago, while Bitcoin fell 2.8% on Thursday afternoon to $57,800, the lowest since early May.