Friday May 9, 12:15 PM
Madrid shares sharply lower midday on fresh oil price rise; Ferrovial slumps
MADRID (Thomson Financial) - Share prices were sharply lower in quiet midday trade as crude oil hit a new record of 125 dollars a barrel, depressing stocks like airline Iberia (Madrid: IBLA.MC
- news) , while Ferrovial slumped on concerns of delays in its debt refinancing.
At 12:45 p.m., the IBEX-35 index was down 179.7 points or 1.28 percent at 13,894.3, after trading in a range of 13,843-14,015.
Equities opened lower on the back of a weak close in Asia as oil prices hit new highs, extending losses over the morning in light trade.
'Inflation concerns as oil prices continue to rise are weighing on sentiment, but trading is quiet,' a Madrid-based trader said.
Ferrovial led the losers, dropping 2.55 euros or 4.49 percent to 54.26, but off a low of concerns that the planned refinancing of around 10 billion pounds of its BAA unit's debt could be delayed.
Iberia lost 0.07 or 2.80 percent to 2.43 on concerns of rising oil prices on fuel costs.
Gas Natural (Madrid: GAS.MC - news) was down 0.98 or 2.59 percent at 36.93 as M&A hopes once again lost steam after the company reiterated that it is not studying any deals in Spain. Merger candidate Iberdrola (Madrid: IBE.MC - news) was off 0.12 at 9.29.
Santander (Madrid: SAN.MC - news) shed 0.13 to 14.04, depressed by reports that its Sovereign (LSE: SOGP.L - news) unit in the U.S. is planning a 1 billion dollar capital hike, some or all of which is likely be subscribed by the Spanish bank.
Other banks were on offer, with BBVA (Madrid: BBVA.MC - news) down 0.15 at 14.97 and Popular off 0.19 at 11.14, while insurer Mapfre (Madrid: MAP.MC - news) added 0.02 to 3.43, with dealers citing an upgrade by Cheuvreux.
Telefonica (Madrid: TEF.MC - news) lost 0.17 to 18.98. The telecom giant said it will announce later today whether it has decided to accept Prisa (Madrid: PRS.MC - news) 's 28 euros-per-share buyout of Sogecable (Madrid: SGC.MC - news) . Telefonica has 16.7 percent of Sogecable.
Prisa shed 0.21 to 11.03, while Sogecable was flat at 27.94.
Prosegur (Madrid: PSG.MC - news) was down 0.45 at 29.98 after Deutsche Bank (Frankfurt: DB9999 - news) downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' on valuation grounds, while reiterating its 31.9 euros price target.
Among other small-mid caps, Agbar slumped 3.31 or 11.82 percent to 24.69, on profit-taking after news that it will not enter the MSCI global index. Hopes that it would be selected for the index led the stock to heavy gains earlier this week.
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