Ibex reaches 8,700, strengthened by Inditex, Telefonica and BBVA

The Ibex 35 has overtaken 8,700 points in a day in which it experienced losses but finished in the green. Inditex, Telefonica and BBVA have pushed the index to a rise of 0.92%, as it closed on 8,718 points. It must be pointed out that the banking sector continues to dictate the rhythm of the Spanish market.

As has been the case in recent months, when the banks don't work the Ibex stagnates. This week the sector is not experiencing the best of periods, and Madrid is taking notice. However, on Thursday, despite the banks starting out negative, they turned it around and only four registered red numbers on the board, including Banco Popular.

Another of the stocks to keep an eye out for these days is Dia, which is coming under pressure from a continuing downward trend. However, analysts are maintaining their trust in the supermarket chain, which has fallen 16% since it released its quarterly results at the end of last month.

Gamesa led the advances on Thursday with a rise of 3.09% towards 19 euros. Aena followed it with a boost of 2.25% to finish on 124.90 euros, and the third highest riser was Iberdrola with a gain of 2.17%. However, three big stocks made an important push to drive the Ibex into the green, including Telefonica, Inditex and BBVA, which all finished more than 1% higher.

On the side of the losses, Banco Popular was the main drag of the session with a decline of 4.47% towards 0.85 euros. The bank is suffering one of its worst falls in recent months and analysts don't see much hope for the future.

The Ibex remains in negative for 2016, with an accumulated fall of 9%. However, according to BNP, it has everything in its favour to regain the lost ground, and could even reach as high as 10,739 points next year.

The rest of the European stocks pushed higher on Thursday, as the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.67%. The CAC 40 in France rose 0.59% and the DAX 30 in Germany by 0.2%.

In the euro-zone CPI figures were released which were slightly below what was initially expected for October at 0.2%. However, minutes from the European Central Bank meetings were released, revealing a lack of stimulus for a monetary policy change. The minutes reflect that more tests are needed in order to increase inflation.

The Federal Reserve needs to remain "forward-looking" when setting policy and to be mindful of the risks that might be inherent in keeping interest rates low beyond their 'past due' date, the head of the US central bank Janet Yellen said on Thursday. Yellen also appeared to have joined the camp of those who believed that another interest rate hike might be appropriate "relatively soon", with her remarks provoking an immediate reaction from bond markets.

"The foundations keep working, that would be the sentence which best sums up the movement of Thursday, like most of the recent sessions," affirmed Bolsamania technical analyst José María Rodríguez.