Technical Rebound Lift Stocks
March 30, 2011
The Madrid General Index advanced 2.60 points to 356.69. Volume was low at 38.82 billion pesetas on 17.04 million shares traded, compared with 47.43 billion pesetas on 31.05 million shares traded Wednesday. The Madrid General Index rose 1.4 points on Wednesday. Banco Popular Espanol fell 140 pesetas to 21,230 pesetas a share on volume of 87,809 shares. Traders said investors looked to other banking stocks after Banco Popular's first half results came out in line with expectations Tuesday. Banco Popular's first half consolidated net profit was up 5.7% to 32.25 billion pesetas from the same period a year earlier. Traders stressed that the market was nearly unchanged compared with the opening because many investors were waiting for a clear direction from the U.S. stock market. ``The market was absolutely flat. The reason it hasn't fallen is that Spanish bonds are strong,'' said Apolonia Mike, a trader at Banesto Bolsa in Madrid. Spain's June budget deficit released Thursday had no impact on stocks. The Finance Ministry said the budget deficit on a cash basis widened 31% from the same month in 2010, from 291.4 billion pesetas to 380.6 billion pesetas. If bonds continue gaining, traders said they expect stocks to remain flat to higher on Friday. Investors were looking to Tuesday's Bank of Spain repurchase auction for the possibility of a Spanish interest rate easing from the current 7.25%.
