The Ibex 35 falls 1.7%, with banks dropping up to 6%, with geopolitical uncertainty in the background

Oct. 1 () –

The Ibex 35 closed this Tuesday’s session with a fall of 1.72% to 11,673.5 points, with banking leading the declines, which exceeded 6%, and the geopolitical uncertainty of the Middle East as a backdrop .

This Tuesday, the United States has assured that Iran could be preparing an “imminent attack” with ballistic missiles against Israel, all after the increase in Israeli air attacks against targets of the Shiite militia party Hezbollah in Lebanon and after the ground incursion of this early morning.

Iran already launched a barrage of missiles against Israel in mid-April in response to the bombing carried out by the Israeli Army against the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where 16 people died, including several high-ranking Iranian soldiers. That massive attack by Iran was repelled by Israel and its partners, including the United States.

The instability in the region occurs just one day before the Interministerial Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies meets. Although the group of countries is not expected to make a decision before its regular meeting on December 1, the geopolitical factor could precipitate some adjustment.

In this way, the barrel of Brent shot up 4.13% at the close of the European session, up to $74.66, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $71.17, up 4.40%. further.

Adding to the geopolitical risks is that this Tuesday it was announced that inflation in the euro zone stood at 1.8% in September, which represents a decrease of 2.2% compared to August. This is the lowest reading of the data since 2021 and the first time that inflation is below 2% since the European Central Bank (ECB) began to raise interest rates.

Added to this is that yesterday the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, defended before the European Parliament the organization’s “confidence” that inflation would return to the 2% objective. On the contrary, the president of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, pointed out that the monetary authority is in no hurry to cut interest rates at a rapid pace.

On the other hand, the Spanish Public Treasury has placed 4,791.848 million euros in short-term debt this Tuesday, in the expected medium-low range, and has done so by offering lower returns for both the six-month bills and the reference to twelve months.

Within the business panorama, Cellnex has appointed Óscar Fanjul, who was already an independent director of the company, as non-executive president. She thus replaces Anne Bouverot.

Likewise, although it is a measure that had already been advanced months ago, the Bank of Spain decided this Tuesday that in the fourth quarter it will set the countercyclical capital buffer at 0.5%, which will be applicable from October 1, 2025.

Given this situation, the bank has led the falls in the selective index almost entirely. Banco Sabadell has fallen 6.52%; Unicaja, 6.38%; CaixaBank, 5.37%; IAG, 4.98%; Banco Santander, 4.88%; Bankinter, 4.77%; and BBVA, 4.20%.

On the other hand, among the companies that have avoided the ‘red’ this Tuesday, the one that has risen the most has been Solaria (+1.83%), ahead of Cellnex (+1.43%), Naturgy (+1.12 %), Endesa (+0.87%) and Repsol (+0.80%).

Only London has closed this Tuesday’s day positively, rising 0.49%. Paris has fallen 0.96%; Frankfurt, 0.65%; and Milan, 1.05%.

In the debt market, the yield on the Spanish sovereign bond maturing in 10 years has reached 2.837%, from 2.926% at Monday’s close. In this way, the risk premium was reduced by six tenths, to 79.7 basis points.

In the foreign exchange market, the euro depreciated 0.61% against the dollar, so that it fell to an exchange rate of 1.1068 dollars for each euro.