MADRID: Spain’s Ibex-35 stock exchange enjoyed a positive day of trading on Tuesday to recover the 9,600.00 point mark by the end of the session.
However, uncertainty over the country’s political future has driven the growth on the Ibex-35 below levels seen on other European markets. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose center-right People’s Party won the most seats in the Dec. 20 election but fell short of a majority, now faces challenges to form a majority government amid lack of support from other parties.
Earlier in the day Rajoy had stated that Spain could expect to see its economy grow by 3.2 percent during 2016, 0.1 percent lower than the previous forecast made by the Ministry of the Economy in July. He added that growth would lead to the creation of around 600,000 new jobs.
The Ibex closed Tuesday at 9,650.90 points, helping to regain some losses on Monday, when 3.6 percent was knocked off as a result of the ongoing political instability.
Meanwhile the Spanish Risk Premium fell by 1.78 percent to close at 117.8 points and the interest on the 10-year-bond stood at 1.81 percent.
Among the best performing companies on the Ibex-35 were Gamesa, which manufactures wind turbines, and energy company Endessa, which saw their values rise by 3.11 and 2.77 percent respectively, while Engas also saw share climb by 2.44 percent.
Bankia was one of the day’s losers after announcing it would be setting aside over 1 billion euros for contingencies, while construction firms, OHL and Sacyr also had a poor day.
