The Ibex 35 opened the session on this Friday, the last trading day of the week and the month of June, with a modest rise of 0.3 percent. This brought the index to 10,984.5 points at 9:00 a.m., following the surprise inflation data for June released in Spain.
Earlier in the trading day, it was revealed that Spain’s Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent in June from May, while the annual rate cooled by two tenths to 3.4 percent, according to advance data published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics.
In corporate Spain, CriteriaCaixa, the holding company that manages the business assets of the La Caixa Foundation, informed the National Securities Market Commission that it has reached a 9.99 percent stake in Telefónica through the purchase of a block representing 4.91 percent of the telecommunications group’s capital.
Separately, Cinven signed an agreement with Idealista’s shareholders to acquire 70 percent of the real estate platform for 2.9 billion euros, according to a press release issued on Friday.
In another development, the Italian industrial group Esseco, controlled by San Martino, launched a voluntary public takeover bid for all of Ercros’ share capital at 3.84 euros per share, above the 3.60 euros proposed by the Portuguese Bondalti in its bid for the Spanish chemical company.
Grifols announced that it will be able to meet its 2025 debt maturities with the 1.6 billion euros raised from selling 20 percent of Shanghai Raas, an amount already received and earmarked entirely for payments due in 2025 and 2027.
The biggest gains within the Ibex 35 were Grifols, up 2.99 percent, followed by Repsol with 1.30 percent, ArcelorMittal up 1.09 percent, and Fluidra up 0.98 percent. By contrast, the red lanterns were Iberdrola down 0.49 percent, Endesa down 0.45 percent, Naturgy down 0.20 percent, and Telefónica down 0.18 percent.
Across Europe, the main indices began the session with mixed trends. London, Frankfurt, and Milan rose by 0.69 percent, 0.5 percent, and 0.33 percent respectively, while Paris’ stock exchange traded flat, down 0.02 percent.
The price of Brent crude, a benchmark for Europe, opened higher by 0.67 percent, reaching 85.83 dollars per barrel. Texas light crude stood at 82.37 dollars, up 0.77 percent.
In the currency markets, the euro traded at about 1.0699 U.S. dollars, while the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bond hovered near 3.396 percent in the debt market.