Ibex closes flat on Friday with a rise of 0.5% this week

European stocks were largely similar, with the CAC 40 in France falling 0.37% and by the Portuguese PSI 20 by 0.62%, while the DAX 30 rose 0.18%.

The best performers on the day were CaixaBank (+1.90%), Banco Sabadell (+1.88%) and Grifols (1.37%). ArcelorMittal (+0.58%) rebounded thanks to a US investigation into steelmakers which export steel at low prices to America.

Among the heavyweights of the index, for the second consecutive day BBVA gained 1.07%, Iberdrola gained 0.77% and Santander was 0.27% higher. Inditex closed flat while the negative performance among these came from Telefonica, with a loss of 0.83%. Francisco Gonzalez’s firm took advantage of the rise in its share price to reduce its treasury shares to 0.103% from 0.255%.

The banks performed fairly well, with Sabadell the second highest riser, with Bankinter and Bankia also gaining. Banco Popular fell 1.17% and is once again a drag on the sector.

Among the biggest fallers, DIA fell 2.78%, Mediaset by 2.14% and Gamesa by 1.89%.

In the general stock exchange, the best performers were Funespaña by 10.95%, Coemax by 9% and Inypsa by 6.98%, while Atresmedia fell 4.93%. San Jose was 4.91% lower. Shares of the construction company OHL fell 1.31% after it spiked 9% yesterday.

In France, after the tragic attack on Thursday, the focus will be on the television debates as a certain level of fear exists that Marine Le Pen will gain following yet another terrorist incident in the country. For the moment, recent polls suggest that Emmanuel Macron will win in both the first and second rounds with an approximate 60% of votes. The CAC 40 opened with moderate losses on Friday (-0.20%).

In addition, the day will look towards several references of interest as we head towards another week full of data. Firstly, from next Wednesday all the banks of the Ibex 35 (apart from Banco Popular) will publish their results for the first quarter. The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday, as will the EU’s negotiating team to decide on their “red lines” for Brexit. Not to forget that from Monday the market will begin to take in what happens in France. There will be two weeks in between that and the final of 7 May, where the new president of the country will become known.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Bolsamanía technical analyst José María Rodríguez pointed out that “the week ends with little implications. There are now four consecutive weeks inside a range of prices understood to be between 10,530 (resistance) and 10,210-10,260 (support). At first glance, the Ibex continues to be in a phase of adjustment, correcting the important gains that we saw since the beginning of March.”