The Ibex 35 falls 0.8% at the opening and loses 10,700 points due to tensions in the Middle East

MADRID, 19 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ibex 35 began this Friday's session, the last of the week, with a fall of 0.8%, standing at 10,678 points, in a context marked by tensions in the Middle East following information that points to a possible Israel's response to Iran in retaliation for last Saturday's Iranian attack.

This Friday the agreement between Ebro EV-Motors and the Chinese manufacturer Chery Automobile for the production of vehicles at the Barcelona Free Zone plant will be signed, while investors will be awaiting the conclusions that may emerge from the Eurogroup meeting. .

CaixaBank has informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that it has carried out 62.06% of its share buyback in the five weeks since this program began on March 14, the total amount of which amounts to 500 million of euros, while Unicaja will pay a dividend this Friday against 2023 results of 0.049 euros per share, which means distributing a total of 132 million euros to its shareholders.

For its part, NH Hotel Group, controlled since 2018 by the Thai group Minor Hotels, will vote at the shareholders' meeting held this Friday in Madrid to change its current corporate name to Minor Hotels Europe.

Under the macroeconomic umbrella, in Germany the Production Price Index (PPI) for the month of March will be published and in Spain, the trade balance.

In the early stages of this session, the biggest increases within the Ibex 35 were recorded by Colonial (0.93%), Redeia (0.83%), Mapfre (0.72%), Repsol (0.66%) and Enagás (0.59%), while the 'red lanterns' were IAG (-2.93%), Grifols (-2.83%) and BBVA (-2.45%).

The main European stock markets also opened this Friday with a negative sign, with falls of 1.07% for Frankfurt, 0.97% for Milan, 0.65% for Paris and 0.52% for London.

At the opening of the stock market, the price of a barrel of Brent quality oil, a reference for the Old Continent, rose 1.38%, to 88.31 dollars, while that of Texas stood at 83.97 dollars , 1.5% more.

However, Brent rose by more than 4% before the opening of the European markets due to the escalation of tension in the Middle East, momentarily exceeding the threshold of 90 dollars, on a par with that of Texas, which It followed a similar pattern, with a strong initial rally of more than 4% to $86.28.

In the foreign exchange market, the price of the euro against the dollar advanced to 1.0644 'greenbacks', while in the debt market the interest required on the 10-year Spanish bond climbed to 3.277%.