MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ibex 35 has closed this Thursday at the highs of the year with an increase of 0.98%, reaching 9,694.7 points (February 2020 levels), driven by values ​​such as Indra, Unicaja and Telefónica after presenting results and after the European Central Bank (ECB) has complied with market forecasts and raised interest rates by a quarter of a point, up to 4.25%.

The selective started with rises that allowed it to aim towards 9,700 points after the market received a barrage of business results, and although it hesitated to moderate the advances after the rise in rates by the eurozone central bank, it intensified the rises again and was close to close at 9,700 points.

The ECB has followed the trail announced yesterday -with the European market already closed- of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), which raised interest rates by a quarter of a point, to the range of 5-5.25%; and analysts doubt whether the ECB will raise them again at the next monetary policy meeting, scheduled for September, while the Fed could pause again, as it did at the June meeting.

Within the 'macro' agenda, it was also known this Thursday that the US GDP registered growth of 0.6% in the second quarter of the year (in annualized terms it accelerated its expansion to 2.4% from 2% in the first quarter).

For its part, in Spain it has been known that unemployment fell by 365,300 people in the second quarter of the year, which is 11.7% less than in the previous quarter, while 603,900 jobs were created (2.9 %), bringing the total employed for the first time in history to 21,056,700 people; In addition, Spanish retail sales remained stable (0.0%) in May in the monthly rate.

Regarding results, Indra recorded a net profit of 90 million euros in the first half of the year, 35.3% more than the 66 million euros in the same period of the previous year.

Banco Sabadell has announced that it closed the first half of the year with a profit of 564 million euros, 43.6% more than in the same period of 2022. Telefónica, for its part, obtained an attributable net profit of 462 million euros , which is 44.5% more than the 320 million euros of the same year of 2022.

Likewise, Unicaja Banco closed the first six months of 2023 with an attributable net profit of 148 million euros, 13% less than the profits recorded in the same period of the previous year, while Repsol earned 1,420 million euros in the first semester, which represents a drop of 44% compared to the same year of 2022.

On the other hand, ArcelorMittal obtained an attributable net profit of 2,956 million dollars (2,665.4 million euros) in the first half of 2023, which represents a decrease of 63.3% compared to the result recorded in the first six months of the previous year, while Iberdrola earned 2,521 million in the semester, 21.5% more, driven by its investment effort.

Grifols closed the first half with losses of 56 million euros due to restructuring costs of 140 million euros associated with its transformation plan, and increased its revenues by 14.8%, to 3,225 million. Indra, on the other hand, obtained a net profit of 90 million euros between January and June, 35.3% more.

In this context, the highest increases at the end of the session were recorded by Indra (5.44%), Unicaja Banco (4.59%), Telefónica (3.57%), Amadeus (2.2%), Mélia Hotels (1.89%), IAG (1.86%) and Inditex (1.82%). At the opposite extreme were Grifols (-2.76%), Rovi (-2.74%), Solaria (-2.61%), Acciona Energía (-2.35%), Caixabank (-1.13 %) and Repsol (-0.83%).

The main European markets have closed with important revaluations: London has added 0.21%; Frankfurt 1.7%; Paris 2.05% and Milan 2.13%.

At closing time in the Old Continent, the price of a barrel of Brent quality oil, a reference for the Old Continent, rose 1.21%, to 83.92 dollars (highs from mid-April), while the Texas stood at $79.95, 1.49% more.

In the currency market, the value of the euro against the "green ticket" fell by 0.83% and stood at $1.0994.

Interest on long-term Spanish debt closed at 3.471% after subtracting almost three basis points, a movement similar to that of other eurozone bonds (despite the fact that they tend to rise after ECB rate hikes), while that the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) remained at 100.4 points.