Ibex falls again as it loses 10,400 points

The Ibex 35 still can’t lift its head. This week, a short one due to Easter holidays, has not been a pretty one for the Spanish index. On Wednesday it fell 0.54% and finds itself at 10,360.5 points. Geopolitical tensions are on investors’ minds as we also head towards elections in France.

Returning to the Ibex, the session was similar to the two which came before. Banco Popular once again had a poor day, although at one stage it was 3% higher. In the end it closed 4.37%. The entity is now worth less than 3 billion euros, and the comments of Emilio Saracho have increased the losses. It has fell 21.92% over the week.

However, it did not pick up the wooden spoon this time as ArcelorMittal fell 4.6% to 7.15 euros. Due to this, neither the banks or steel companies have had a great week. Acerinox was the third worst performer after losing 2.89%.

After these three, the next five worst performers were all banks. Banco Santander fell 1.28% to 5.56 euros and BBVA by 1.03% to 6.9 euros. The heavyweights couldn’t escape the red either. Telefonica fell 0.58%, while Repsol was 0.13% lower.

On the gains side, Indra led the advances after gaining 3.03% to 12.4 euros. It was followed by Enagas with a gain of 1.59% and Grifols which climbed 1.47%.

OTHER MARKETS

The rest of European markets registered mixed results. The DAX 30 rose 0.13%, while the CAC 40 fell by just 0.01%. The investors in France are awaiting the country’s presidential election on 23 April. Extreme left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has saw a significant rise, while centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has sought the support of several influential figures.

Wall Street once again saw slight losses. Investors are looking towards meetings in Moscow between US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and his Russian counterparts. President Trump has affirmed in an interview with Fox Business that he wants healthcare reform before fiscal reform.

At the time of European markets closing, the price of oil had fallen 0.3% after news of the production cut of the OPEC. With respect to currencies, the euro rose against the dollar to be worth $1.0617.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

“We continue to recommend caution in the short term,” said Jose Maria Rodriguez, Bolsamania technical analyst. In fact what is really grabbing our attention is the recent downward trend and it is starting to head towards further losses.

Rodriguez added that “unless we rebound immediately from the support zones it continues to look weak.” It’s not that the Ibex has to see strong corrections but it could initiate the corrective phase that we have been expecting for a long time.