IAG and Grifols led the gains on the Ibex 35 index, which closed at 11,156 points.
European stock markets ended the session higher. The DAX rose 0.3% to 1,850, the FT-100 rose 0.10% to 8,290, the CAC-40 rose 0.13% to 7,530, the Eurostoxx 50 rose 0.1% to 4,890 and the Ibex 35 closed at 11,174 after gaining just over half a percent.
Among the stocks that rose the most was Grifols A, which closed at €9.4360 after rising more than 2.3%. IAG (Iberia) followed with a 1.7% gain to reach €2.0760, while Solaria rose 1.6% to close at €11.37.
ArcelorMittal shares were down 1.15% at 20.63 euros, Acciona Energías Renovables shares were down 0.7% and Sabadell shares were down 0.4% at 1.8950 euros.
Among the most traded stocks, Banco Santander gained 0.4% to 4.2765 euros. Iberdrola added 0.4% to close at 12.60 euros, while BBVA lost 0.132% to 9.3480 euros and Repsol lost just over three tenths.
Inditex closed at new highs again. The price closed up 0.7%, reaching 48.85 euros. After yesterday, the textile giant set a new record high for the second day in a row, reaching 48.51 euros on a market valuation of 151.19 billion euros, something never seen on the Spanish stock market. At today’s price, the shares have accumulated an overvaluation of 25% since the beginning of the year. You may be interested in: Inditex index at record high and active bullish target.
On the continuous market, Grifols B led for the second day in a row with a rise of more than 8% to €7.7820, followed by Pescanova and Urbas, which closed with a rise of more than 2%.
The biggest decline was recorded by Inmobiliaria del Sur, which fell more than 2%, while Squirrel Media and Realia fell by the same percentage, to €1.61 and €1.03 respectively.
On the corporate side, Iberdrola has received SEC approval for its takeover bid for Avangrid and will hold a meeting in September, according to information provided by El Economista. The US regulator has not raised any objections to the acquisition of the 18.4% of Avangrid that the Spanish utility does not yet own, and has approved the merger brochure for both companies.
OHLA has been awarded the right to build Lot 3 of the Salvador de Bahia Tramway in Brazil, a project that includes the construction of a 10.5-kilometre section and surface stations, with a budget of €140 million.
In the financial sector, BBVA announced yesterday that it had successfully completed its 2024 financing plan, completing the issuance of €1 billion of Tier 2 subordinated debt with a seven-year call option.
Regarding the Talgo takeover bid, the government is building bridges with Hungary to unblock the takeover bid for the Spanish rail company. Minister Oscar Puente would send senior Renfe and ministry officials to Magyar Vagon’s facilities to learn first-hand about the Hungarian project.
At the recommendation level, Bankinter analysts maintain a “buy” recommendation for Melia Hotels and raise their target price from €7.69 to €7.73 per share. On the other hand, Jefferies raises the target price for ACS to €44.90, with an upside of 11%.
Additionally, Alphavalue today reiterated its recommendations on Banco Sabadell, Bankinter and Caixabank and lowered its target price.
PMIs continue to confirm economic slowdown
On the macroeconomic front, business activity indices were released today. In Germany, manufacturing PMI fell to 42.1, below the expected 43.5, while service activity fell to 51.4%. Germany’s composite PMI fell to 48.5.
In the eurozone, the composite PMI increased to 51.20 points in August from 50.20 points in July.
Already in the American session, we learned that the US PMI fell to 54.1 in August, the manufacturing PMI fell to 48, and the services PMI fell to 55.2.
Also in the economy were claims for unemployment benefits, with a higher-than-expected figure of 232,000. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 230,000 claims. The Labor Department also revised up the previous week’s figure to 228,000 claims, from an earlier estimate of 227,000.
Overall, futures on Wall Street are currently trading mixed. The Dow Jones futures index fell 0.10% to above 40,848. S&P 500 Index It is timidly rising above 5621 points, while the NASDAQ 100 is trading lower, and futures on it are moving at 19822 points.
In commodity markets, oil prices are struggling to avoid a fifth straight day of decline as expectations of weak demand continue to weigh on benchmark indexes, while speculation is circulating that OPEC will begin to scale back some of its production cuts despite the price drop. Until now, the producer nations’ organizations have been very clear that they will only ease production cuts if prices are adequate. Brent crude futures rose 1.3% to above $77.05, while West Texas futures added 1.4% to $73.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro-dollar lost 0.3% against the dollar, to 1.1111 units, while among cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin rose more than 2% to $60,590 and Ethereum rose just over half a percent to $2,611.
In fixed income, bond yields remained flat, outpacing Jackson Hole, with the 10-year yield rising to 3.799% and the two-year yield to 3.929%.