After yesterday’s severe punishment, the IBEX 35 closes this Friday again in negative and deepens its fallsdespite having resisted in green for a good part of the session. The buying impulse is diluted in the final stretch, also dragged down by the quadruple expiration of futures and options—the well-known “Witching Hour”—which clouds and distorts the pulse of the market.
But the main focus of investors remains on the geopolitical front. The war in the Middle East, now in its third week, continues to set the pacealthough in the last few hours timid expectations of detente were beginning to emerge following the latest statements by Benjamin Netanyahu and the commitment of several powers to guarantee transit through the Strait of Hormuz and contribute to stabilizing the energy markets.
However, the Spanish selective says goodbye to the week under the negative signin a scenario where oil and volatility continue to impose the rules.
Specifically, today the Ibex 35 falls 1.14% until reaching the 16,714 points, which leads it to close the week with a negative balance (-2%). Los The most penalized stocks have been Cellnex (-5.09%), Merlin (-2.30%) and Repsol (-2.14%); On the best side, Solaria (+1.14%), IAG (0.38%) and Indra (0.30%).
With today’s decline, the Spanish index has lost almost 1,800 points in just three weeks, from the all-time highs of 18,496.60 points on February 26.
Business protagonists
In the business field, BBVA held its General Shareholders’ Meeting this Friday and its president, Carlos Torres Vila, assured that the bank «is better prepared than ever for the future», despite the uncertain and changing environment, marked by commercial and geopolitical tensions. “At BBVA we face this context with confidence, to continue growing, thanks to our geographical diversification, a unique combination of growth and profitability and a strategy with a clear focus on innovation,” he noted. Likewise, he highlighted that BBVA has leading franchises in its main markets, disciplined execution and the best team: «Looking to 2026, we hope to continue growing above our competitors and increase profitability to levels around 20%.»
In addition, BBVA has announced today that it will resume next Monday, March 23, the execution of the extraordinary share buyback program of up to 3,960 million euros that it announced on December 19. After having already completed a first tranche of 1,500 million euros, it begins to execute the second tranche for an amount of up to 1,000 million euros. This second tranche will end when the maximum monetary amount is reached (1,000 million euros) or the maximum number of shares planned (482,353,131) is acquired. The repurchased shares will be used to reduce BBVA’s share capital through amortization.
Indra continues to be at the forefront of the news, in the face of an open war within the company. In an extraordinary meeting, the company’s board of directors announced yesterday the renunciation of the purchase of Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, which had raised suspicions on the part of the SEPI as it was a company owned by the Escribano brothers. But it seems unlikely that it will be the last chapter in a soap opera that has led Indra’s shares to fall almost 25% from the historical highs of 66.15 euros that they reached on March 2. Today media like Expansion o The Confidential they echo Ángel Escribano’s intention to remain as president of Indra, while the Government presses for an exit. It must be remembered that the State, through SEPI, is the largest shareholder of Indra with 28% of the capital, while the Notaries control 14.3%.
In the recommendations section, today HSBC raises Repsoll’s target price to 22 euros per share, from the previous 17.5 euros, although this valuation is well below the current price.
Goldman Sachs has lowered its target price for IAG (Iberia) shares listed in London from 470 to 440 pence (from 5,438 euros to 5,091 euros at the exchange rate), but has maintained its ‘Buy’ recommendation.
JP Morgan maintains its ‘neutral’ recommendation for Enagás and raises the target price from 13.50 to 15.40 euros per share.
Bestinver Securities maintains its ‘buy’ recommendation for MERLIN Properties and raises the target price from 15.25 to 20.85 euros. This analysis house maintains its ‘hold’ recommendation for Endesa and raises the target price from 31.10 to 36.75 euros.
Other markets
Las bags from europe They are also betting on sales: the DAX closes with losses of 1.94% at 22,397.4 points, the CAC 40 drops 1.82% to 7,665.62 points, the FTSE 100 loses 1.57% at 9,905.99 points and the Euro Stoxx 50 falls 2.14% to 5,493.42 points.
After a negative day yesterday Thursday, this Friday The main Wall Street indexes deepen their falls even further, also flirting with entering into correction territory. Specifically, the DOW JONES started the day with declines of 0.12% at 45,964.91 points, the S&P 500 lost 0.27% at 6,588.63 points and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.57% to 21,963.90 points.
At this time, the crude oil Brent international reference rises 0.89% to $109.69 per barrel, and is on its way to completing all week above 100 dollars. For its part, US West Texas Intermediate futures gained 1.55% to $97.03. WTI has been more contained during the last week thanks to the release of reserves by the US.
The other side in the commodity markets is Gold, which is on its way to its biggest weekly drop in six yearsas the war in the Middle East drives up energy prices and reduces expectations of interest rate cuts. The yellow metal in its spot variety subtracts 1.47% and marks 4,582.53 dollars per ounce, leaving more than 8% in the week, the worst behavior since March 2020, during the pandemic.
In other markets, the Euro Dollar is exchanged at 1.1559 dollars (-0.26%), while Bitcoin is trading around 70,000 (specifically, 70,005.9 dollars).
For its part, in fixed income, the profitability of american bond In 10 years it advances to 3.563%.