The Ibex rises 1.6% this week supported by Telefónica and looks towards the 9,700 points

The Ibex 35 has revalued 1.6% in the accumulated of the week and looks towards the 9,700 points. The Spanish index has closed this Friday at 9,686 points and has risen in value in the session 0.41%. The index 'bloomed' after the employment data of the United States, the key reference of this day.

The most bullish value of this session was ACS, which has risen 2.39% to 30.04 euros per share. The company chaired by Florentino Pérez continues to benefit from the 'truce' he has signed with Atlantia in his fight for Abertis. Apart from the construction company, in the upper part of the table we find Amadeus (+ 2.20%) and Grifols (+ 1.72%).

It is also worth noting the good performance of Telefonica, which has revalued 1.22% this session after learning that it’s considering the sale of 69.2% of the capital it controls in its German subsidiary, Telefónica Deutschland. The rest of the 'blue chips' of the Ibex (or 'heavyweights') have also shown positive behavior this Friday.

Regarding the falls, the 'red lantern' of the session was Inmobiliaria Colonial (-1.39%), which has suffered the first divestment by Axiare. They have followed Arcelormittal (-0.75%) and IAG (-0.68%).

MAIN BOARD AND OTHER STOCKS

In the main board, Nyesa Valores has increased this session by 17.02% to 0.04 euros per share, as it is negotiating a non-cash capital increase with a Spanish investment group. This would be carried out through the incorporation of real estate assets valued at 17 million euros, as reported by the company itself to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Also, Abengoa has risen 0.36% to 0.02 euros per share, after knowing that it has sold 25% of the capital of Atlantica Yield for 607.5 million dollars, with a capital gain of 108 million dollars .

Outside of Spain, the main European stock exchanges also ended the session in green, with increases of between 0.2% and 0.4%, except the German Dax 30, which ended with losses the week. On the other side of the Atlantic, Wall Street showed increases of more than 1% at the close of the Spanish stock market.

ECONOMIC REFERENCES

Wall Street also finished yesterday’s sessions with earnings, specifically 0.4%, after President Donald Trump confirmed tariffs of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum. The other reference has to do with the decision of the US president and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, to meet at a summit in May in what could be an important rapprochement of positions.

As for everything else, the market is still being directed by the ECB’s announcement on Thursday. The entity modified its speech to discard the possibility of widening the volume or length of the asset sales in the market. It has warned that debt sales are at their final stretch and will end in September. The president of the entity, Mario Draghi, was also in charge of clarifying that nothing the ECB will do will be drastic, the measures will be gradual. Especially due to the lack of inflationist pressure.

So although the Ibex rose on Thursday, it performed worse that the rest of the Old Continent stocks and is still weak. “From the graphs point of view we have a problem: the numerous resistances that we have from here to 9,900 points”, warns Bolsamanía’s expert. “In general, it looks like things are faring better for European indexes, it’s a different issue that the Ibex follows suit”, he adds.

As for the key date of the session this Friday was the February Employment Report in the United States. The US economy created 313,000 jobs in February of this year, as reported by the country's government. A figure that is above what was expected by analysts was 200,000 jobs. The creation of 313,000 jobs represents the biggest increase since mid-2016.

However, the unemployment rate remains at 4.1%, above what was expected by analysts who expected it to stand at 4%. On the other hand, the salary growth has moderated, since the hourly payment increased by four cents, or what is the same by 0.1% to 26.75 dollars per hour. However, the annual increase of workers was 2.6% compared to 2.8% in the previous month.

And aside from the US data, this Friday the industrial production in Germany has been released and it rises 5.5% versus 6% predicted. In Spain the industrial production accelerates their advance in January up to 4% and chains nine months on the rise.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS OF THE IBEX

For José María Rodríguez, technical analyst of 'Bolsamanía', "the rises of this Thursday and Friday have relied mainly on the good behavior of Telefónica, which since announcing its results has accumulated a rise close to 7%."

"And little more can be said of an index that continues to be immersed in a clear corrective phase and which is relatively far from the first resistance really, the 9,940 points," adds the expert. Therefore, "and in terms of very short term," Rodriguez indicates that "for the moment we have only dared to fill 50% of the bearish gap of the session on Friday of last week, at 9,738 points."

"Which means that to the extent that we are unable to close (or what is the same to cancel) said bearish gap we will not have the slightest sign of strength in our selective beyond the typical rebounds against trend that only serve to correct part of the important 'oversold' accumulated after the sharp falls of the last month, "the analyst signs.

"If we look at the European stock exchanges we will be on the lookout to the resistances presented by the Dax and Euro Stoxx 50 futures at 12,600 and 3,480 points respectively, only above these levels may our Ibex possibly try to get a potential rebound in Europe, "he concludes.