Ibex 35 yields technical support 9.300 and falls to December 2016 lows

It was Meliá's turn at the bottom of the leaderboard this time with its shares declining by 3.3%, followed by those of tech firm Indra (-2.86%) and lender BBVA (-2.52%).

Weighing on the shares of the latter, analysts at Deutsche Bank and Kepler both took a knife to their target prices for the stock on the back of the ongoing situation in Turkey.

Nevertheless, it was a poor day for the sector in general, with Caixabank dropping -1.92%, alongside Bankia (-1.17%), Sabadell (-1.83%), Santander (-1.05%) and Bankinter (-0.31%).

Aena also ran afoul of analysts, with markets pushing the shares down by almost -4.0% at one point during the session as news filtered through that Morgan Stanley had downgraded its stock to 'underweight'.

Repsol was unwanted too (-1.24%), dragged down by a retreat in crude oil futures, even as Kepler upped its target for the oil major's shares.

Telefónica was also moving lower, giving back a further 0.87%. Viscofan (+1.56%) was among the few issues trading in the 'green'.

Out on the Mercado Continuo, Adveo bounced back by 9.73% from the prior day's near 57% drop.

Europe's other main equity gauges also fell back on Thursday, albeit by less, with the FTSE 100 shedding 0.87% and the German Dax off by 0.7% at the close.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

As José María Rodríguez, Bolsamanía.com's chief technical analyst, had been anticipating, the Ibex 35 gapped lower at the start of trading, kicking the day off from below technical support at 9,300.

That left the way clear for a move lower towards the 8,960 to 9,000 point area, he said, with a move down towards the 8,700 point level - the 2012 and 2016 lows - now possibly also on the cards.

To take note, the main area of technical support for BBVA - which tends to lead movements in the Ibex 35 - now lay towards €4.7, where its primary uptrend line from the 2009 lows was to be found.

TRADE WARS AND NAFTA

Markets are still waiting for the US to announce whether it will impose tariffs on a further $200.0bn-worth of Chinese goods or not and for any fresh news of the ongoing talks between Canada and America.

Also weighing on sentiment throughout the afternoon, US consultancy ADP reported a 163,000 person increase in US private sector payrolls, which was shy of the 190,000 jump which economists had been expecting after the prior month's gain of 217,000.