Ibex 35 falls 1.3% after Popular and other banks struggle

The Ibex 35 finished at session lows to end on 10,325.30 points, a fall of 1.32%. The Spanish index, which closed the first quarter with an annual rise of 12%, was seen hampered by the banking sector, especially through Banco Popular and BBVA.

IBEX 35

11.439,600
-0,24%

In the case of Popular, it tanked 10.44% after making an adjustment to its accounts for 2016 to the value of 426 million euros. The entity said that this will impact its total capital ratio, which was between 11.70% and 11.85% at the end of March.

Adviser Pedro Larena resigned from the bank after only six months after taking on the job, and weeks after Emilio Saracho took the reins. This news shows Saracho has a long way to go to bring the bank towards success.

BBVA fell 2.69% after registering its “ex coupon” on the same day that it released its “Dividend Option”. Despite the falls it continues on a promising trajectory, according to Bolsamanía’s experts. Banco Sabadell (-2.74%), Caixabank (-2.46) and Santander (-1.74%) made up the biggest losers on Monday.

On the gains side, Gamesa (1.26%) was the biggest riser, after closing its deal with Siemens . Aena climbed 1.15% and benefited from a rise in valuation from Credit Suisse to 168 euros per share. ACS gained 0.91% and was the third best performer.

Wall Street closed the third quarter with gains of 5% for the S&P 500 and 10% for the Nasdaq.

DATE FOR THE FED

The Federal Reserve will take centre stage this week with the publication of its meeting minutes in which the bank decided to raise interest rates. “Although we think that after so many interventions from members of the FOMC there is little to add to its position in relation to how the monetary policy is going to change,” said experts at Link Securities.

On Thursday the minutes of the most recent European Central Bank meeting will also be released.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

“Monday’s correction should not put us off too much bearing in mind the increases we have seen over the month of March. In addition, we have the index very close to the higher part of the upper channel, by definition the resistance. The highs of November 2015 show an important zone of control (20,630) which would lead us to conclude that the correction makes more sense than a further rise,” said Bolsamanía technical analyst José María Rodriguez.