The Ibex loses 0.17%, but maintains the 9,200 points thanks to the banking sector

The Ibex has yielded 0.17% on Wednesday and stood at 9,211 points. The selective managed to maintain the level of the 9,200 integers that it had lost during much of the session, thanks to the financial sector, since six of the most bullish values ​​have been banks. Europe has quoted in harmony with Madrid, after the slight setbacks of yesterday on Wall Street and a quiet session in Asia, with a mixed sign.

On the geopolitical level, the main news is the meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, without forgetting all the doubts surrounding Brexit. The North American president and the North Korean leader meet this Wednesday in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, with the aim of working on the relations between the two nations and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Before the meeting of the two leaders, Trump tweeted that North Korea could be as "prosperous" as Vietnam if it denuclearized, adding that its potential is "impressive."

In addition, investors remain alert to developments related to the trade agreement between China and the United States. Trump has declared that he will postpone the March 1 deadline that would have been the increase of tariffs to China.

The latest comments by Jerome Powell continue to kick in on Wednesday. The president of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) warned on Tuesday about the possibility of slower growth in the future, despite the current strength of the US economy. Powell added that the US central bank is willing to adjust the policy if justified.

As for Brexit, the 'ball' is on the roof of the British Parliament, which must decide whether to delay or opt for a 'hard' Brexit. The vote is scheduled to be held in two weeks.

SANTANDER WILL MAINTAIN THE DIVIDEND IN SHARES

In business, Santander has been the value in which all eyes have been fixed. The bank announced last night that it will request authorization from its shareholders to repurchase shares before the "possibility of executing repurchase programs in order to reduce the number of shares outstanding, if market conditions so advise."

In addition, Santander has decided to ask them to maintain the possibility of collecting the dividend in shares, although previously it had agreed to pay the dividend entirely in cash. On the other hand, the bank promises to increase its pay-out, the percentage of profits that it destines to dividends, up to 40-50% from the current 30% -40%.

Given these developments, Santander began the session with losses, which have exceeded 1.3% and have been the main burden for the Ibex. Finally, the securities of the entity managed to turn around two hours before closing and closed with a rise of 0.39%, driven by the trend of the banking sector.

In fact, banks have been the main support to reduce losses in the Ibex. All of them have finished the session in positive, with Sabadell as the most outstanding company of the selective with a rise of 3.08%. CaixaBank, BBVA and Bankia have also finished above 2%.

On the side of losses, the most punished value was Ence (-2.65%), which yesterday presented its results for the year 2018. It improved its attributable net profit by 41%, up to 129m euros, and EBITDA improved by 35%, reaching 291m euros.

In other markets, the barrel of Brent crude, of reference in Europe, has quoted with an increase of 2.18% at the end of the Spanish market, to 66.66 dollars. For its part, in the currency market the euro has fallen in value to 1,1365.