Ibex misses out on 9,500, hampered by Santander, IAG and Repsol

Moderate losses for the Ibex 35 in the first session of the week. After getting over the 9,500 mark last Friday, the Spanish index saw its gains limited and was not able to maintain its high level. The index fell 0.24% to 9,492.80 points.

Repsol dropped 1%, hampered by the downward fall of oil prices. Brent crude, the European benchmark, fell 2.9% to $55.45. Experts warn that, even if the OPEC cuts its supplies, US oil companies will enter into action in the second half of the year to prevent a further price rise.

Even so, Bolsamania expert Cesar Nuez believes that oil could gain 20% in the upcoming months. Just over a year ago, oil prices hit their lowest levels for years.

IAG also fell close to 1%. The airline company appears to have been affected by the forecasts of its rival Lufthansa, which raised the cost of fuel by 400 million euros compared with 2016. Other notable fallers were Banco Santander (-1.12%), BBVA (-0.44%) and Telefónica (-0.21%). On the other side of the board, the best performers were Acciona (+1.64%), Aena (+1.15%) and Meliá Hotels (+1.02%).

Volkswagen (+4.86%) was also in the news on Monday. US authorities have arrested an executive of the company on charges of conspiracy, according to the New York Times. However, the automaker's shares have gained rapidly after announcing an increase of 2.8% in its global deliveries for 2016.

Regarding the economic news of the day, Germany's industrial production figures were published, with a 2.2% inter-annual rise in November, a monthly increase of 0.4%. In addition, German exports gained 3.9% in November while imports registered an increase of 3.5%.

At a strategic level, Josep Prats, analyst at Abante Asesores, commented that while the global economy keeps growing at around 3%, companies' profits will also keep growing and their value on the stock market will as well.

In the eurozone specifically, he says that a diversified investment allows for initial profitability through dividends of between "3%-4%", a level which exceeds the long-term view.

Bolsamania analyst José María Rodríguez points out that the Ibex 35 has been trapped for the last five sessions betweem 9,400 and 9,544 points. "The weekly and monthly low-points are the same we were talking about weeks ago," he said.

"Closing higher in the next few sessions, with sufficient means, we believe will allow the Ibex to get to the real and psychological marker of 10,000 points," the expert added.