Ibex-35 beginnt die Woche höher, steuert aber auf einen monatlichen Rückgang im Januar zu
Jan 31 (Reuters) – Spain’s main stock market index opened the week with a rebound, after the previous session’s cut, although it was heading for a moderate monthly decline in a context of geopolitical and currency concerns.
The financial markets continued to follow the tension between the West and Russia, after the United Kingdom insisted that it is „very likely“ that Russia is preparing an invasion of Ukraine and new signs that Moscow is preparing medical material that will allow it to treat possible victims.
The week is marked by meetings of several central banks, including the UK, which could raise interest rates, and the European Central Bank (ECB), where the focus will be on how it argues not to raise borrowing costs while the Federal Reserve does so.
„(The ECB) will have to be very finely tuned to adequately communicate to the market the reasons for not raising rates this year despite the Fed’s more tightening rhetoric. Behind the ECB’s more accommodative bias relative to the Fed is the different cyclical momentum of the European and U.S. economies,“ analysts at Renta 4 (MC:RTA4) said in their daily report.
In this regard, Renta 4 pointed to „the statements of different Fed members, highlighting among them those of Bostic, of the Atlanta Fed, who does not rule out that the rate hike at the 16-March meeting will be +50 bps to curb inflation, although his base scenario remains three hikes of 25 bps over 2022, predicting a moderation in wage growth in the coming months.“
Contributing to the rises was the perception of greater political stability following the Socialist Prime Minister’s absolute majority in Portugal and the re-election of Sergio Mattarella as Portugal’s Italian head of state, which is containing fears of the country’s fragile government falling apart for the time being.
On the corporate front, investors will be keeping an eye on quarterly results due out this week, including those of Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) in Spain.
At 08:17 GMT on Monday, Spain’s selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 66.80 points, or 0.78%, to 8,678.50 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.93%.
For the month as a whole, the Ibex accumulated a decline of 0.43%, after a rise of 4.9% in December.
In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.11%, BBVA gained 0.71%, Caixabank (MC:CABK) advanced 0.80%, Sabadell (MC:SABE) gained 1.15%, and Bankinter (MC:BKT) gained 1.29%.
Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica (MC:TEF) gained 0.76%, Inditex (MC:ITX) advanced 0.44%, Iberdrola (MC:IBE) gained 1.04%, Cellnex (MC:CLNX) gained 0.63%, and the oil company Repsol (MC:REP) lost 0.18%.
(Information by Tomás Cobos)