Ibex hits new annual high after gain of 0.15%

The Ibex 35 closed on Wednesday at new annual highs after an advance of 0.15% to 10,837 points. Wednesday sees another Federal Reserve meeting in the US which is not expected to introduce any major change to interest rates.

The US central bank will not interrupt its plans to raise interest rates this year despite modest growth in the first quarter of the year. The body has projected two more rate raises before the end of the year, with a 50% chance that one of those will come in June.

The rest of the European markets saw a gain for the PSI 20 in Portugal, while the others were moving flat. The DAX 30 closed 0.16% higher, while the CAC 40 was flat and the FTSE 100 0.21% lower.

With regard to today’s session, Acciona was 1.65% higher, the best performer in the index. Red Electrica followed it on +1.21%, as well as BBVA (+0.87%). On the losses side Viscofan saw a loss of 3.42%, ArcelorMittal with a fall of 3.02% and Acerinox by 1.46%.

Among the heavyweights, Inditex found itself among the biggest movers with a gain of 0.78%, along with Iberdrola on 0.69%. Santander ended the day with a light increase of 0.28%, while Telefonica fell 0.05%.

Analysts at Berenberg once again showed their negative forecasts for Spanish banks. They pointed out that Santander has a capital deficit of 10 billion euros. They reiterate their valuation of 3 euros for the bank, and recommend Sell.

In the general stock exchange, Renta Corporación performed well, as did Montebalito and Gam, while the biggest fallers were Urbas, Tubos Reunidos and Prisa.

Grifols reported its financial results with an increased net profit of 7% in the quarter, to 134 million euros. BNP Paribas increased its net profit to 4.4%.

In macro references on Wednesday, eurozone GDP grew 1.7% in the first three months of the year, in line with expectations. US President Donald Trump will meet with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas later today.

The two big events of the week are ready to arrive. The results from Banco Popular, which will be known on Friday, and outside of Spain the second round of French presidential elections on Sunday. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face off in a television debate tonight.

For José María Rodríguez, Bolsamanía’s technical analyst, the session was one of transition for the Ibex 35, which “moved between a narrow range of prices all day. From the point of view of the graphics, the Ibex remains on course for an upward movement. But even when the price corrects (and I’m not saying it will) to the primary support (10.530) or even if it fulfils the upper gap of last week (10,377) nothing would really change. In saying that, the good performances of the market and in particular the financial sector point towards an attack on the psychological level of 11,000 points.”