SPAIN'S stock market has experienced its best month in history, closing November with a record increase, according to market data.
The Bolsa, as the national share price index is known in Spain, soared by 25.18% between 00.01 on November 1 and 23.59 on November 30, a rise never seen before.
Rocketing share values have been largely driven by pharmaceutical laboratories as market speculators invest heavily in them ahead of the release of the imminent Covid-19 vaccines.
The increase was tempered slightly by a 1.39% shrinkage at opening today (Monday, November 30) leaving it on 8,100 points, pulled down by the fall of Wall Street and the petroleum industry and losses suffered by the banks.
Spain's main share price indicator and list of its top 35 companies by capital, the IBEX-35, dropped by 113.8 points, or 1.39%, to 8,076.9, with an accumulated annual decrease of 15.42%.
A fall of over 1% in Wall Street at the last minute, and a reduction of 1.5% in Brent crude oil prices to US$47.50 per barrel had a knock-on effect on the IBEX-35 and the Bolsa, explain analysts.
The 'big six' in the IBEX-35 all experienced reductions in November – Repsol at 5.04%, Telefónica 2.11%, Banco Santander 1.93%, Inditex clothing empire at 1.52%, BBVA bank at 0.71%, and Iberdrola utility board at 0.22%.
TWO of Spain's largest high-street banks are reported to be in merger talks, potentially resulting in the joint entity being the second-biggest in the country in terms of share capital.
A MERGER between two key telecommunications providers has now been finalised – Orange and MásMóvil will operate as a single company from April onwards.
