Slightly lower in the end 04/12/2007 00:00

4 December 2007

MADRID - The Spanish stock market closed slightly lower on the first trading session of the week, largely as a result of an indifferent start by Wall Street.

The domestic market opened lower as the euro appreciated against the dollar, but the blue-chip Ibex 35 later moved above the 15,800-point mark before New York put paid to its ambitions.

The main detonator for this was a slight fall in the US manufacturing ISM for November, which brought the index closer to a level that indicates a contraction in activity.

The Ibex 35 shed 0.16 percent to 15,735.00 points after trading in a range of 15,710-15,846. The Madrid general index dropped 0.07 percent to 1,706.96 points. Open-market deals in the continuous market amounted to about €3.3 billion. In the rest of Europe, Frankfurt shed 0.42 percent, Paris dropped 0.72 percent, while London was down 0.71 percent.

The major heavyweight stocks were lower, with Telefónica down 0.22 percent and Santander off 0.07 percent.

The medium-sized banks attracted buying interest amid speculation of merger and acquisition activity. Bankinter added a further 1.60 percent after both Crédit Agricole and Jaime Botín sought leave to raise their holdings. Banesto put on 0.65 percent, while Sabadell added 0.63 percent.

Grid network operator Red Eléctrica was the star performer in the Ibex 35, advancing 2.89 percent on expectations of a higher return on its investments.

Broadband operator Jazztel added 8.33 percent after confirming it was in talks with the Netherlands’ KPN Royal with a view to forming a technical tie-up that would allow it to begin offering low-cost cell phone services in Spain.

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL./ Adrián Soto 2007]

Subject: Spanish news