The Ibex 35 falls 1.26% and gives up 9,900 points weighed down by Asia and doubts about interest rates

MADRID, 17 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ibex 35 has continued the downward path and, after saying goodbye to the 10,000 point level yesterday, it closed this Wednesday with a fall of 1.26%, reaching 9,867.8 points, weighed down by the declines in Asia in the early morning and investor doubts about the first interest rate cuts by central banks.

The selective has started strongly in the direction of declines - and has barely moved from those levels during the rest of the day - after learning in the early morning that the Chinese GDP in 2023 registered an expansion of 5.2% in the whole of the year, surpassing Beijing's official goal of an expansion of around 5% and accelerating substantially from the 3% growth in 2022, when the world's second largest economy was slowed by measures implemented to contain Covid-19.

Renta 4 analysts have pointed out that China's 'macro' data is "in line" with market expectations, although it shows "weakness", especially in private consumption and in the real estate sector, which is accelerating its decline. In this context, the Chinese stock market has recorded falls of 2.18% in the case of the CSI 300 index and 3.71% in the Hang Seng index, which has ended up infecting Western stock markets throughout the day.

Furthermore, on the monetary policy side, Waller (member of the Fed) pointed out yesterday that if the economy remained in the current state, he saw no reason to cut rates so quickly, while the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde considered this morning that, in the absence of significant changes in the data, it is likely that the entity's Governing Council will reach the necessary consensus to lower interest rates in the summer.

On the macroeconomic data side, the annual inflation rate in the United Kingdom stood at 4% last December, one tenth above the 3.9% in November, which represents the first rise in prices in the second largest European economy as of February 2023.

In addition, the Eurostat statistics office has published the revision of the eurozone inflation data for December, confirming that it accelerated in the last month of 2023 to 2.9%, from 2.4% in the previous month, which It is its highest reading since October.

In the United States, it has been known that industrial production expanded by 0.1% in December, which contrasts with the stagnation registered in the eleventh month of 2023, while retail sales registered an increase of 0.6 in December. % compared to November, when consumption already grew by 0.3%, which represents a continuation of the return to growth since the contraction of the index that had been recorded since March.

Thus, Wall Street indices were also leaning toward losses at closing time in Europe while waiting to see the Beige Book of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) this afternoon.

In this context, only Indra (2.69%), spurred by the President of the Government's statements in favor of strengthening the defense industry, and Mélia Hotels (0.95%), given the good tourism prospects, have managed to close the session with advances, while on the losing side Solaria (-6.08%) stood out; Acciona (-4.77%); Acciona Energía (-4.47%); Grifols (-4.05%); Colonial (-3.31%) and Aena (-2.77%).

The European stock markets have closed with declines of around 1%: Milan has subtracted 0.79%; Frankfurt 0.84%; Paris 1.07% and London 1.48%.

At closing time in the Old Continent, the price of a barrel of Brent quality oil, a reference for the Old Continent, fell 1.53%, to 77.1 dollars, while Texas stood at 71.63 dollars, 1.05% less.

In the foreign exchange market, the price of the euro fell one tenth against the dollar, to 1.0863 'greenbacks', while in the debt market the interest required on the Spanish bond at 10 closed at 3.242% after adding seven basis points, with the risk premium (the differential with the German bond) at 93 points.

The stock market declines have not served as support for other assets such as gold, which fell more than 1% and per ounce put the $2,000 level at risk, or bitcoin, which dropped 2.5% and was traded at $42,350.