Europe close: Spanish stocks underperform
CaixaBank SA
€4.82
18:15 18/04/24
European stocks ended the session little changed amid moderate selling pressure on Spanish stocks on the back of the latest news around the attempted independence referendum in Catalonia and ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the session.
Banco de Sabadell
€1.50
18:15 18/04/24
IBEX 35
10,765.00
18:45 18/04/24
IBEX TOP DIVIDENDO
3,042.90
18:45 18/04/24
By the close, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had drifted lower by 0.04% or 0.14 points to 381.98, alongside a small rise of 0.06% or 7.38 points to 12,569.17 for Germany's Dax while the Cac-40 managed a gain of 0.08% or 4.22 points to 5,241.66.
Out in the euro area periphery however, Spain's Ibex 35 was down by 0.83% or 86.30 points to 10,292.10, with shares in construction group ACS and Catalan lenders Banco Sabadell and Caixa Bank trading at the bottom of the pile.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Spanish government note was three basis points higher at 1.58%, having dipped to 1.53% earlier. Yields on debt issued by Paris and with a similar maturity was at 0.73%.
Ahead of the 1 October plebiscite, earlier on on Wednesday Spanish police arrested 12 local government officials after they pressed ahead with plans for a poll despite it having been ruled illegal by the country's Constitutional Court.
Still on the calendar, the Federal Open Market Committee's policy statement was scheduled for release at 1900 BST and chair Janet Yellen's press conference a half hour afterwards.
Commenting on market expectations ahead of the US central bank's policy announcement, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK said: "The main question surrounds the timing of when the next rate rise is likely to come, and for this there is a school of thought that suggests the market is under-pricing the prospect that we could get one more hike this year, in December.
"This is why particular attention is likely to be focussed on the dot plot projections of where US policymakers see the potential glide path for rates into next year. It is unlikely that Fed officials will want to take the prospect of a December move off the table, so it would be a surprise to see any changes to the short term predictions, but there is a whole raft of factors that could delay the prospect of a move in December, and see fewer projected increases into 2018."
Wednesday's economic calendar was otherwise quite light, with only German producer price figures for August out earlier which revealed a 2.6% pace of increase year-on-year (consensus: 2.5%).
Outside of energy, factory gate prices were higher by just 2.6% on the year, versus a rise of 2.5% in the month before, according to Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Nontheless, Vistesen pointed out recent gains in Chinese producer prices, typically a good lead indicator for imported manufacturing goods.
On the corporate front, Thyssen Krupp and Tata Steel agreed to combine their European steel activities via a 50-50 joint venture, creating Europe's second-largest steelmaker in the process.
In other news, Hochtief was reportedly studying a potential bid for Spanish firm Abertis.
Another German company, Heidelberg Cement clinched a deal to purchase Italian outfit Cementir Holding for €315m.