The Stock Market closes 2024 with an annual increase of 15%, placing it among the best in Europe

The Ibex 35, the main index of the Spanish Stock Market, has risen 0.5% in the last session of the year, which has been shorter than usual, and closes 2024 with a cumulative increase of 14.78%, thus which adds two consecutive positive years.

The selective has remained at the gates of 11,600 points (11,595 points), despite the negative close of Wall Street on Monday, although it ends the year far from the 12,118.7 points it reached on December 5, its annual maximum .

The year has brought significant advances in the main Wall Street and European indices, with the exception of the French stock market, and all-time highs in gold and bitcoin, which have deflated somewhat in the last stretch.

In this good year for the Spanish stock market, it can be said that the winners have been IAG and the banking sector, mainly. He holding owner of Iberia, Vueling, British Airways… and main operator of the Madrid and Barcelona airports, its price has doubled so far this year and easily heads the list of stocks that earn the most on the Ibex 35. It thus compensates for the hard blow that it suffered with the pandemic in 2020 and the uncertainty that the purchase of Air Europa meant for investors. Once Brussels announced that it would veto the operation due to the competition problems it could generate in markets such as Spain, the aeronautical group’s price began a more intense phase of recovery.

Corporate operations have also been behind the strong revaluations seen in the banking sector. Sabadell, an entity that has a purchase offer on the table from BBVA and which is rejected by the board of directors, is the second fastest growing value. Further away, other financial entities such as Unicaja Banco CaixaBank or Bankinter reflect the good momentum of the sector as well as the confidence that their exposure to the Spanish economy (CaixaBank is the largest bank in the country) will benefit them in 2025 despite the decline. of interest rates applied by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The other side of the Ibex is shown by renewables. Solaria is the most depreciated value along with Acciona Energía. In between, the great stock market soap opera of the year with Grifols, which has suffered the distrust of investors after the report on its Gotham City accounts, a maneuver that was denounced by the CNMV but that the Catalan company was not able to counteract with transparency. . Also depressed are Puig, the company that carried out the largest IPO of the year, and Colonial, which despite being active in a market as buoyant as real estate, is not reaping the rewards.

For the coming year, many analysts believe that some of these severely damaged companies may turn around their situation in a year in which the forecasts for the Spanish stock market stand out among the European continent, waiting for the economic policy to be implemented. the new American presidency of Donald Trump and its possible effects on Europe.