The Ibex 35 of the Madrid Stock Exchange started the session this Friday with a rise of 0.36%, which allowed it to approach again the threshold of 19,000 points, standing at 18,981.5 units in the first minutes of trading.
The behavior of the markets continues to be conditioned by the tension in the Middle East and the doubts about the evolution of the conflict and the oil supply. This scenario has pushed the price of crude oil above 114 dollars per barrel, its highest level in more than five months, following the increase in attacks by Houthi forces against various targets in Saudi Arabia, including refining facilities.
The Houthi insurgents from Yemen have confirmed a series of attacks carried out in recent hours against key infrastructures in Saudi Arabia, such as the Ministry of Defense, the Yanbu refinery, and several airports in the country, in the context of the escalation of the war in Yemen.
The spokesman for the Houthi forces, Yahya Sari, has reported four "high-level military operations in the last 48 hours" using "ballistic missiles and drones."
In this scenario, the Brent barrel, a reference in Europe, rose by 1.1% at the opening of the markets in the Old Continent, to 114.4 dollars, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a reference in the US, increased by 1.3%, to 100.8 dollars per barrel.
In the Spanish corporate sector, Squirrel has announced, before the start of the session, the purchase of an additional 34.25% stake in Comercializadora BF, a Chilean company specialized in the distribution and commercialization of film and audiovisual content. With this operation, it raises its presence in the capital from 51.05% to 85.3%.
Within the selective Madrid index, in the first trades, the rises of Cellnex stood out, which rose by 2.4%, followed by Caixabank, with 1.8%, and Repsol, which advanced by 1.5%.
On the downside, the largest initial corrections were for Telefónica, which fell by 1.6%, Indra, with a decline of 1.1%, and Acciona, which lost 1% in the first minutes of the day.
The main European stock exchanges showed mixed behavior at the start of the day. Milan began with a rise of 0.3%, while Paris fell by 0.3% and London retreated by 0.1%. For its part, Frankfurt dropped by 0.4%.
In the foreign exchange market, the euro was retreating against the dollar, changing in the markets to 1.1211 "greenbacks," while in sovereign debt the yield of the Spanish ten-year bond was falling to 4.053%.