There has been a further 4.32% wiped off the combined value of Spain's 33 top companies this morning as the Ibex-35 stood 554 points down at 2.30pm at 12,284 - 340 points lower than close of play on what has become known as 'Black Monday' earlier this week, when the market closed at 12,625.8.

Once again, the biggest declines have been for some of Spain's leading companies, such as Santander (-5.27%), Telefónica (-4.9%), and Repsol (-3.98%).

Since the start of the year the Ibex-35 has tumbled 19.1% with massive cumulative losses for the likes of Santander (-23.87%), Iberdrola (-23.77%), BBVA (-20.71%), Repsol (-17.52%) and Telefónica (-13.56%).

Black Monday
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

€100,000 million wiped off value of Spain's top companies

It has been the worst start to the year ever for Spanish investors.

Over the last three weeks, €101,653,672 euros has been wiped off the value of the 33 companies currently listed on the Ibex-35 stock exchange (33 as the gaps left by the departures of Altadis and Aguas de Barcelona have yet to be filled).

This means that, in just 14 working days, the companies that have been the engine of Spain's recent economic miracle are worth 17% less now than at the end of 2007.

What is worse is that the combined value of twelve top companies - Iberdrola, Sacyr-Vallehermoso, Gamesa, Banco Santander, Acciona, Inditex, Banesto, Abengoa, BBVA, Banco Popular, Sabadell and Iberia - has fallen 20% over the same period.

Apart from Iberdrola, whose over-priced shares fell 12.58% yesterday, the other big loser of the day was the crisis-hit construction group Sacyr-Vallehermoso (-11.05%), whose share price fell 40% during 2007.

Iberdrola shares slump 12.5% as market closes 7.5% down
By: thinkSPAIN
Monday, January 21, 2008

Iberdrola shares plummeted 12.5% to €8.55 euros as Spain's main stock market - the Ibex-35 - closed the day 7.45% down at 12,625.8 points as majopr stock markets worldwide tumbled amid growing evidence that the US economy is about to enter recession.

A company spokesman said that there was "no particular reason" why Iberdola shares should drop at a faster rate than the rest of the market, and attributed the decline to "market conditions."