Aug 9 (Reuters) – The Ibex opened the week by breaking the bullish streak of the previous week, when it chained five days of gains, yielding slightly in a context of caution in international markets given the increase in coronavirus cases driven by the Delta variant .
Fears that the advance of the pandemic could lead to new restrictions, especially in China, boosted sales and sharp falls in the prices of gold, copper and oil.
“The predominant concern continues to come from the Delta variant and the market is being a bit cautious here despite the strong employment report,” said Thomas Hayes, managing member of Great Hill Capital in New York.
On the other hand, investors hope that a meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this month, will shed more light on the possible plan of the Federal Reserve to cut its stimulus program, in the wake of the acceleration of inflation and the strength of the labor market.
The selective Spanish stock market Ibex-35 closed down 13.10 points on Monday, or 0.15%, to 8,865.90 points, while the index of large European stocks FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.28%.
In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.26%, BBVA fell 0.03%, Caixabank lost 0.30%, Sabadell gained 0.03%, and Bankinter revalued 0.62%.
The values linked to the tourism and travel sector were the worst hit in the index. The Anglo-Spanish airline holding company IAG dropped 3.02% and the airport manager AENA lost 2.62%, occupying the bottom of the table respectively.
On the other hand, the pharmaceutical group Pharma Mar was the value with the best evolution of the day, with an advance of 2.77%.
(Information from Michael Susin, Additional information from Devik Jain,)
