The Spanish selective has recorded an advance of 1.02% this Friday

MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ibex 35 concluded the week with a cumulative advance of 2.84%, reaching 10,597.9 points - the highest since January 2018 -, its best result in a week since last November thanks to the boost from Inditex, which has presented record results, and the banking entities.

So far this year, the main indicator of the Spanish market has recorded a revaluation of 4.91%.

The director of XTB, Joaquín Robles, explained that the main world stock markets continue to be driven by business profits, optimism about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and economic strength.

In addition, higher-than-expected inflation readings - such as that in the United States in February, which accelerated to 3.2% - have motivated investors to cool expectations about rate cuts, which has encouraged banking stocks. as they improve your business and income prospects. On the other hand, the companies most vulnerable to the current high interest rate environment once again led the declines.

After a Friday marked by the first 'quadruple witching hour' of the year, a phenomenon that usually causes high volatility in the markets, within the macroeconomic agenda, France this morning revised February inflation up one tenth, to 3% , which is why it moderated one tenth in the interannual rate, while German inflation for the same period has been confirmed at 2.5%, which is why it subtracted four tenths compared to the figure for the previous year.

For its part, this Thursday it was known that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February compared to the previous month and cut its interannual rate by six tenths, to 2.8%, due to the lowering of prices. electricity and food, which grew at their lowest rate in two years, according to definitive data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

In line with this, the debt of all Spanish public administrations rose by 8,090 million euros in January compared to the previous month (0.5%), reaching 1,582,772 million euros, a new historical maximum, according to the data published by the Bank of Spain.

In the United States, the producer price index recorded an unexpected advance in prices, while retail sales were also higher than expected: "The data reinforce the position of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) to wait until inflation is controlled before cutting interest rates," Robles said.

For its part, within the business agenda for this Friday, the Dia Group - listed on the continuous market - announced on Thursday after the market closed its decision to launch a restructuring process in its subsidiary in Brazil that contemplates as a measure "more immediate" the strategic closure of 343 low-performing stores, 58% of the total, and three warehouses, as well as the subsequent analysis of different strategic alternatives for the rest of its business in the South American country.

The highlight of the week in the business field has come from the hand of Inditex, which announced on Wednesday a record net profit of 5,381 million euros, 30.3% more, in its 2023-2024 fiscal year, which has brought its price to unprecedented historical highs: 45.08 euros per share. The most valuable company on the Ibex now has a capitalization of more than 140,000 million euros.

Given this situation, in the calculation of the weekly evolution, the biggest increases within the Ibex 35 have been recorded by Inditex (10.84%), Banco Sabadell (5.83%), Bankinter (5.69%), BBVA ( 5.22%), Unicaja Banco (4.55%), Sacyr (4.22%) and Repsol (4.2%), while Solaria (-14.02%), Grifols stood out among the declines. (-9.28%) and Cellnex (-6.69%).

The main European stock markets have also made gains in the week: London has added 0.42%; Frankfurt 0.69%; Paris 1.7% and Milan 2.84%.

For its part, the price of a barrel of Brent quality oil, a reference for the Old Continent, rose almost 4% in the week, to 85.33 dollars, while that of Texas stood at 81 dollars, 3 .9% more.

Oil has risen to four-month highs after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast a supply deficit as cuts by OPEC and its partners continue, according to Robles.

In the foreign exchange market, the price of the euro against the dollar fell 0.5% in the week, to 1.0885 'greenbacks', while in the debt market the interest required on the ten-year Spanish bond It closed at 3.239%, with the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) at 80 points.

Next week will be dominated by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) rate decision, in which it is expected to make no changes for the fifth consecutive session, but in which investors will continue to look for clues about the start of cuts. .

Also noteworthy, according to Robles, will be the final CPI data for the month of February in the euro zone and the preliminary manufacturing PMI data in Germany and the United States.