The Ibex 35 tries this Tuesday to hold on to 20,000 points after four consecutive sessions of declines and in a day again marked by tension between the United States and Iran. The Spanish selective index started practically flat, with a slight advance of 0.02%, up to 19,985 points, after having lost 0.87% yesterday and saying goodbye to the historic closing high of 20,300 points that it reached just at the beginning of this August.
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The blockage of negotiations to end the conflict and normalize transit through the Strait of Hormuz has again placed oil at the center of investors’ concerns. The 60-day period contemplated for the talks has ended without agreement and Tehran has warned that it will adopt a “fully offensive” military stance, while Washington has also not given signs of de-escalation.
The Ibex resists better than the major European stock markets and continues fighting for 20,000 points
The reaction is being directly transferred to the energy market. Brent surpassed $91 per barrel this morning, while WTI moved around $85, extending gains for the third consecutive day. The market is also beginning to assume that difficulties for oil transit through Hormuz may last longer than initially expected.
In Madrid, this scenario left contained behavior among the major stocks during the early stages. Repsol again benefited from the rise in oil prices and advanced just over 1%, while Telefónica and BBVA also traded positively. Conversely, Inditex fell slightly and much of the banking sector moved between small gains and losses.
Despite this, the Spanish stock market showed in the first hour of trading somewhat more resistance than the rest of the major European markets. While the Ibex managed to momentarily recover 20,000 points and moved with slight gains, the main indices on the continent traded negatively. Repsol’s push due to the rise in crude oil has helped support the Spanish selective index.
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The weak tone is preceded by the losses recorded yesterday on Wall Street. The Dow Jones fell 0.51%, the S&P 500 another 0.52%, and the Nasdaq 0.32%, after the absence of diplomatic advances and the rise in oil prices returned risk aversion to the US market. The energy sector was one of the few that managed to escape the sell-off.
Pressure has shifted overnight to Asia, especially exposed to rising energy costs. Declines intensified as the session progressed: the Japanese Nikkei lost around 2.2% and the South Korean Kospi 2.1%, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan retreated about 0.8%. The stock markets of China and other regional markets also traded lower.
The situation thus leaves the markets again focused on the Middle East after several weeks in which expectations of an agreement had allowed ground to be regained.
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