Quiet trade in Brussels | Beursduivel.be

(ABM FN) The Bel 20 stayed close to home on Monday morning. Around half past twelve the star index was 0.3 percent higher at 3,544 points.

The star index rose considerably last week. With a close of 3,534.47 points on Friday, the index gained almost 3 percent on a weekly basis.

Last week, the stock markets mainly benefited from favorable inflation figures from the United States, causing the ten-year interest rate in the US to fall further.

“Market sentiment has taken a significant turn,” Philippe Gijsels, market strategist at BNP Paribas Fortis, told ABM Financial News. “We have shifted from a narrative of higher interest rates to a consensus pointing to disappointing growth and inflation figures in the future,” Gijsels said.

Gijsels also noted that the rapid change in sentiment has created additional upward pressure in the markets. “Many hedge funds had short positions in bonds and equities, which led to a significant short squeeze. Now we wait for confirmation that the situation is also fundamentally improving.”

Still, he warned against excessive optimism. “The markets are currently anticipating a ‘soft landing’ with falling interest rates. That is an optimistic expectation.”

Furthermore, it was announced on Monday morning that producer prices in Germany were again significantly lower in October than a year earlier. On an annual basis, prices fell by 11.0 percent, after a decline of 14.7 percent in September. That was the strongest decline since Destatis started keeping the data.

Oil prices rose slightly this morning and a barrel of Brent oil rose 0.7 percent to $81.18. This extended Friday’s gains, as expectations grow that OPEC+ will tighten supply cuts to support oil prices.

The euro/dollar rose again and managed to add 0.3 percent to 1.0938. Due to favorable inflation figures in the US, the euro was clearly on the rise against the dollar last week, and this rise continued this morning.

Risers and fallers

The Melexis share led the way among the main shares and rose by 1.8 percent after a buy recommendation from Berenberg. The investment bank increased the price target to 100 euros.

Galapagos was able to add 1.5 percent and Elia managed to gain almost one percent, despite a price target reduction by KBC Securities. KBC still believes Elia shares are worth purchasing, but warned of possible dilution due to future capital increases.

UCB barely reacted to Barclays’ price target reduction and was 0.3 percent higher. The British bank believes that UCB shares deserve a “significant” premium compared to competitors, thanks to an expected turnover growth of 9.4 percent per year in the coming years. UCB earnings per share will even increase by more than 30 percent, according to Barclays. The advice therefore remained Considered.

KBC was the biggest decliner among the main funds. The share lost 1.5 percent.

In the BelMid, Montea went 2.4 percent in the green and Bekaert rose by 1.5 percent. Bekaert also won on Friday after a well-received quarterly update.

Retail Estates reported more profit in the first half of the year and reiterated the outlook for the dividend. Degroof Petercam was pleased with the figures. However, the share failed to benefit and traded virtually unchanged.

Econoom Group had to give up no less than 7.5 percent on Monday morning.

Among the smaller shares, Smartphoto gained almost 6 percent, while Unifiedpost fell by 3.2 percent.

The FSMA halted trading in Orange Belgium and Oxurion. Orange Belgium issues a press release. Oxurion announced this morning that it would file for bankruptcy after disappointing study results.

Source: ABM Financial News

ABM Financial News is a supplier of stock market news, video and data, both for real-time trading platforms and dealing rooms and for online and offline media publications. The information in this article is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.