© Reuters. The crisis in the Catalan weighs on stock markets and the euro before Christmas
by Blandine Henault
PARIS (Reuters) – The main european stock Exchanges ended down on Friday, and Wall Street also lacks gusto, for the last session before the Christmas truce marked by the emergence of renewed tensions around the file catalan.
In Paris, the CAC 40 ended down 0.4% to 5.364,72 points. The Footsie british, which ended at mid-day, fell 0.15% and the German Dax dropped 0.28 per cent.
The index EuroStoxx 50 has lost 0,49%, the FTSEurofirst 300 was down 0.15% and the Stoxx europe 600 index 0.1%.
Has Wall Street, the three benchmark indices are also subject to change slightly, and the main political subjects having been evacuated just before the holidays with the enactment of the tax reform by Donald Trump and the extension of the funding term the federal State.
The session was marked, in particular by the victory of the separatist catalans in the regional elections on Thursday, a result which, in the opinion of many observers revives the open crisis since the referendum on the independence of Catalonia, organised in early October.
The question of Catalan independence “is now on the front and in the centre of the Spanish political and european. The distresses policies do not only exist in Spain; in October, two Italian regions voted for greater autonomy. Market participants are aware of the fact that other nationalist movements might arise across the continent,” noted David Madden, an analyst in markets at CMC Markets.
APPEASEMENT ON THE RATES OF THE PERIPHERAL COUNTRIES
The outcome of the vote in catalan has weighed on the euro, which hit a low in 1,1815 before limiting its losses. The single currency again lost 0.29% to 1,1839.
The Madrid stock Exchange, Ibex 35 index closed down 1.19%. In contrast, the movement of sales on Spanish bonds has eased after the determination shown by the central government as well as the camp pro-independence catalan to discuss.
The yield of Bonos the Spanish 10-year was virtually stable, at around 1,477% after having touched a peak at more of 1.52% during the session. Significant increase in mid-day, the bond yields on Italian and Portuguese have also limited their progress.
To value, Spanish banks Caixabank and Banco Sabadell were sold, respectively 3,59% and 3,43%. The whole compartment of the banks in the euro area showed a decline of 1.06%.
Beyond movements related to the vote, catalan, the odds on a european level was marked by the bonds of Eutelsat (+4.43% on) and ITS (+1,87%) after a recovery of a recommendation from Kepler Cheuvreux on the two operators of satellite telecommunications.
The compartment real estate (-0,26%) remained affected by the sharp rise in rates this week in Europe. In Paris, Unibail-Rodamco (AS:UNBP) (-1,84%), again registered the largest decline of the CAC 40.
The financial markets, in Europe and on Wall Street, will be closed Monday for the Christmas day.
(edited by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
