(ABM FN) The Brussels stock exchange is doing well on Friday, after the setback on Thursday. The Bel20 index rose by 0.4 percent around eleven o’clock to just over 4,000 points.
“Interest rate expectations and better-than-expected quarterly figures on average supported sentiment,” said ING investment manager Simon Wiersma.
Despite a significant and rapid tightening of monetary policy from early 2022 to late 2023, the US economy surprised in 2023 and grew well above potential, according to KBC. At the same time, global inflationary pressures subsided and inflation continued its gradual downward trend.
This initially led to the expectations of interest rate cuts by the Fed, which would have created more room for central banks in emerging markets to continue lowering interest rates, according to KBC economists.
However, signs of continued healthy growth and, importantly, higher-than-expected inflation in the US, particularly in services inflation, have led to the timing and extent of policy easing in the US being pushed back. As a result, long-term interest rates were adjusted sharply upwards, according to KBC.
The euro/dollar was unchanged at 1.0781. The ten-year German interest rate fell slightly to 2.461 percent.
Risers and fallers
Within the main index, Elia was the strongest riser with a gain of almost 2 percent. Argenx recovered somewhat from Thursday’s collapse and gained 0.8 percent.
Solvay, on the other hand, had to give up one and a half percent.
Barclays maintained a neutral rating for KBC, but increased the price target from 63 to 67 euros. The bank share price was virtually unchanged compared to Thursday’s closing level.
On the broad market, Ontex stood out with a gain of almost 3 percent. UBS increased the price target from 10.00 to 10.70 euros.
On the other hand, Exmar was able to add more than 2 percent to the price.
Bpost and Econocom also performed well. Jefferies has increased the recommendation for Bpost from Underperform to Hold, while the price target was lowered from 3.80 to 3.50 euros.
During the first four months of 2024, VGP has 31.9 million euros in new or renewed rental income has been contracted, the company announced on Friday morning. The total annual contracted rental income has thus risen to 376.2 million euros, or an increase of 7 percent since December 2023. The VGP share gained 0.2 percent.
Belysse achieved a consolidated turnover of 70.3 million euros in the first quarter of 2024, the company announced on Friday morning. On the other hand, a strong improvement in EBITDA was noted on an annual basis. ING is satisfied that Belysse has significantly strengthened the balance sheet, according to a report from analyst David Vagman this morning. He expected a strong price reaction and maintained the buy recommendation for the share with a price target of 2 euros. Belysse’s share price was indeed more than 11 percent higher.
Smartphoto also gained one and a half percent among the small caps.
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.
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