Ibex loses its hot streak despite breaking 9,500

The Ibex 35's impressive streak was brought to an end on Wednesday. The Spanish index could not string together three consecutive days on the right side of zero, falling 033% to finish on 9,462.9 points. However, the market did break over the psychological barrier of 9,500 for a brief time due to a strong performance in the morning.

The wooden spoon of the session goes to Red Electrica as it finished 2.11% lower at 17.2 euros. The supreme court forced electrical companies to pay for the use of public grounds, making Red Electrica the worst performing stock of the day. It was followed by ACS, which dropped 1.47% to 30.20 euros and Indra with a 1.46% fall to 10.40 euros.

It was a mixed day for the banking sector. BBVA, one of the biggest stocks in the exchange, closed with a fall of 1.07%. However, Santander rose 0.45% to 5.10 euros, despite having reached over 1% higher during the day.

Amongst the other heavyweights in the market, Telefonica closed with gains for the session. The telecoms company rse 0.19% to 8.90 euros. Grifols led the way though after finishing 2.94% higher, supported by strength from the dollar.

Merlin Properties also was an important stock on Thursday after UBS saw a potential for a 14% rise, causing the company to rise 0.63% to 10.37 euros.

European markets saw a mixed bag as well, although the Ibex was the only reference to fall on the day. The CAC 40 in France and Dax 30 in Germany were flat and the FTSE 100 rose 0.17%.

The price of Brent crude oil is rising after a volatile period in which it has fluctuated between 55 and 58 dollars. At the hour of close in European markets, Brent rose 1.03% to $56.04 and US reference West Texas gained 1.13% to $52.92.

Various interesting news issues came out on Wednesday, amongst them the unemployment figures for Spain, which fell by 390,534 people in 2016 (the best annual improvement in history).

Also released were PMI and CPI index figures in Europe. PMI figures were higher than expected throughout much of the eurozone, while the CPI remained at 1.1%. This evening the minutes from the last US Federal Reserve meeting will be published, giving an insight into possible future actions from the body.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Bolsamania technical analyst César Nuez points out that this is the first negative session for the Ibex 35 in 2017, "but still offers god news from a technical point of view after yesterday's performance."