El Ibex 35 opened Monday with a small gain of 0.05%, putting the index at 9,891.2 points at 9:00 a.m. local time, on a trading day when Wall Street would be closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday.
In corporate news, Banco Santander’s board decided to propose to the 2024 ordinary shareholders’ meeting the approval of a cash supplementary dividend of 0.095 euros per share before taxes. The bank also announced that its board has approved a new share buyback program, to be funded with 1,459 million euros, for which regulatory clearance has already been obtained.
Almirall published 2023 results showing net losses of 38.5 million euros, compared with a profit of 4.3 million euros in 2022. The company explained that the loss reflected impairment charges tied to the accounting value of Seysara, its oral antibiotic for acne.
Alongside the results, Almirall also announced an exclusive license agreement with Novo Nordisk for the rights to the monoclonal antibody NN-8828, which blocks the cytokine IL-21.
In the early trading, the biggest gains within the Ibex 35 were led by Repsol, up 1.14%, Amadeus, up 0.96%, Grifols, up 0.85%, and Mapfre, up 0.72%.
By contrast, the largest declines were seen in ArcelorMittal, down 0.90%, Meliá Hotels, down 0.65%, Inditex, down 0.63%, and Aena, down 0.57%.
Major European stock markers opened the session with a negative tone, with declines of 0.26% in Paris and Milan, 0.21% in Frankfurt, and 0.03% in London.
In the market snapshot, Brent crude, the European benchmark, fell 0.66% to $82.92 per barrel, while Texas Intermediate traded at $77.94, down 0.66%. In the foreign exchange market, the euro rose to about $1.0787, while the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bond climbed to around 3.290%.
(Source: market summaries; data reflect early trading conditions and currency/bond moves reported by market services)