- Banks happy at the outcome of Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting
- Bank of England maintained its interest rates after Fed rise
- Grifols led the gains in the Spanish index after purchase of Hologic
The Ibex 35 closed at annual highs thanks to a push from the banking sector on Thursday, after Wednesday evening's news that the US Federal Reserve was raising interest rates. The index gained 1.33% to finish on 9,340.8 points. Other European markets also had a positive day after the Fed decision.
- 19.210,810
- -0,27%
- 11.635,900
- 0,97%
The day after the US central bank raised rates to 0.5%-0.75% was a positive one for Spanish markets. Grifols led the board with an advance of 6.72% to 18.27 euros, after the purchase of Hologic for more than 1.75 billion euros.
Second best on the day was Bankia, which rose 6.19% to 1.03 euros. The entity was the leader in the banking sector, followed by BBVA, Banco Santander, Sabadell and Bankinter, which all gained around 2% on Thursday.
Low interest rates have affected banks more than most in Europe, but they have reacted positively ahead of the expected actions of the European Central Bank this week. The US has shown its cards, and those in Europe are likely to follow by raising rates soon.
In the side of the fallers, Red Electrica picked up the wooden spoon for the day after falling 1.74% to 17.20 euros. Mediaset España was next in line with a fall of 1.61% after its dispute involving its Italian entity and Vivendi.
In the European stocks, the interest rate rise was also celebrated, with the DAX 30 in Germany rising 1.08% and the CAC 40 in France gaining 1.05%. The FTSE 100 also closed with an advance of 0.72% after the Bank of England decided to keep its interest rate at 0.25%.
The Milan stock exchange, the FTSE MiB, also rose on Thursday. A gain of 2.09% after it annopunced that the state is ready to inject 15 billion euros in order to bail out the country's banks. Banco Monte dei Paschi regained 2.99% to finish on 20.60 euros.
In the macroeconomic sphere, on Thursday Funcas upped its forecast for growth for the year to 3.3% in Spain, as a result of the GDP figure rise of two points for 2016. Funcas affirmed that the pillars of recovery are there and that businesses will find better conditions in the months to come.
The oil market, it is still not certain yet that the production cut will be fully agreed, and crude continues to lose ground. At the time of European markets closing, Brent crude had losses of 0.74% and was situated at $53.5 per barrel.
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
José María Rodríguez, Bolsamanía technical analyst, pointed out on Thursday that the Ibex recovered the loss of the previous session. "Arriving at this point the Ibex is not reaching the upper resistance of 9,544 points, with which we started 2016," said Rodríguez.
Speaking of BBVA, Santander and Telefonica, he added that "if those three can remain strong it's impossible to catch a breath with the market."
