MADRID, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Ibex 35 closed with a rise of 0.59% in the first session of this week, which brought it to 9,944 points, on a day in which Wall Street will remain closed for Presidents’ Day. ‘.

In the business field, the board of directors of Banco Santander has agreed to propose to the ordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2024 the approval of a complementary cash dividend for a gross amount of 0.095 euros per share.

Consequently, the total cash dividend per share charged to 2023 results will be 17.6 euro cents, which represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the cash dividend charged to the previous year.

The bank has also announced that its board of directors has agreed to implement a new share buyback program, to which it will allocate 1,459 million euros, for which it has already obtained the relevant regulatory authorization.

In Europe, the GDP growth of France, the second largest economy in the euro zone, will be 1% in 2024, four tenths below what was previously expected as a consequence of the complex geopolitical environment, as well as the slowdown in China and the recession in Germany.

In this context, Grifols closed the session as a bullish value, with an advance of 3.44%, followed by CaixaBank (1.89%), Telefónica (1.83%), Santander (1.76%), Repsol (1.66%) and Sabadell (1.16%).

On the opposite side were ArcelorMittal (-2.95%), Acerinox (-2.32%), Acciona (-1.51%), Solaria (-1.46%), Acciona Energía (-1.14% ) and Fluidra (-0.66%).

Of the rest of the main stock indices of the Old Continent, London closed with an advance of 0.22%, while Paris ended flat and Frankfurt and Milan closed with falls of 0.15% and 0.18% respectively.

In the raw materials market, a barrel of Brent stood at $83.36, 0.12% less, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 0.45%, to $79.55.

For its part, the yield of the 10-year Spanish convincing bond barely registered any changes, trading at 3.309% compared to 3.302% on Friday. In this way, the risk premium against German debt stood at 89.7 basis points.

In the foreign exchange market, the euro was trading at an exchange rate of 1.0772 dollars for each unit of the community currency, slightly below Friday’s level.