The market session opened with a modest gain of 0.2 percent on Wednesday for HE mountain goat 35, following a February drop that saw a year‑on‑year decline of 6 percent. By mid‑day, the index had rebounded to as high as 9,256 points, a level traders viewed in the context of upcoming U.S. inflation data for March.
Attention across global markets was then directed toward the Spring meeting in Washington, where the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) opened discussions. At the same time, investors anticipated remarks from European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos at the conference hosted by APD, as well as the release of the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting held in March.
In Spain, CaixaBank announced a dividend payout totaling 1,730 million euros for the current Tuesday. Of that amount, 850 million euros were earmarked for the La Caixa Foundation, with the Regular Bank Restructuring Fund (FROB) retaining close to half of the bank’s capital stake.
As trading commenced on Wednesday, Spain’s stock market highlighted notable gains in Grifols, up 6.1 percent, followed by CaixaBank at 1.01 percent, Merlin Properties at 0.76 percent, Cellnex Telecom at 0.69 percent, and BBVA at 0.66 percent. Conversely, the decline in Unicaja reached 3.28 percent, with Indra dipping 0.24 percent, Logista slipping 0.22 percent, and Amadeus off 0.21 percent.
Across the broader European scene, major indices opened slightly higher: Frankfurt 0.14 percent, Paris and Milan 0.1 percent, and London close to flat with a 0.04 percent rise. In commodity markets, Brent crude, the European benchmark, inched up 0.19 percent to $85.77 per barrel, while WTI benchmark Texas oil rose 0.13 percent to $81.64 per barrel.
On the currency front, the euro traded around $1.0929, while measures of risk in Spain showed a premium near 104.2 basis points. The yield on the Spanish 10‑year government bond stood near 3.351 percent, reflecting a cautious stance among investors amid the evolving macro backdrop and expectations for upcoming inflation data and central bank commentary. [Citation: Market Desk]