LUSA 02/04/2025

Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Stock market index in the red

Lisbon, Feb. 3, 2025 (Lusa) - The Lisbon stock market maintained its opening trend and was trading lower on Monday morning, with shares in Ibersol and EDP Renováveis down 1.41% to €8.38 and 1.22% to €8.93 respectively.

At around 09:20 in Lisbon, the PSI was down 0.65% to 6,482.18 points, with 11 shares falling, two rising (CTT, up 0.85% to €5.94 and Jerónimo Martins, up 0.26% to €19.10) and two remaining unchanged (NOS at €3.39 and REN at €2.38).

Ibersol and EDP Renováveis were followed by Galp, BCP and Corticeira Amorim, which fell 1.05% to €16.04, 0.95% to €0.50 and also 0.95% to €8.37.

Before the market opened, Galp released its results for the last quarter of 2024, when its refining margin fell by 15% compared to the same period last year but increased by 12% compared to the previous quarter, to $5.20 per barrel of oil.

With the same trend, shares in Mota-Engil, Semapa and Altri fell by 0.69% to €2.87, 0.67% to €14.92 and 0.52% to €5.73.

Similarly, shares in Navigator, EDP and Sonae fell 0.51% to €3.50, 0.49% to €3.02 and 0.11% to €0.90.

The main European stock markets were trading in the red in response to fears of a trade war, given the imminent entry into force on Tuesday of tariffs imposed by the US on Mexico, Canada and China.

The main European markets recorded losses of over 1% and the euro was falling to $1.0230 on the Frankfurt exchange, down from $1.0362 on Friday and $1.0218 on 13 January, a low since 10 November 2022.

 Last Friday, the euro fell below $1.04, a day after the European Central Bank (ECB) lowered interest rates by 25 basis points and Germany's inflation rate fell.

The tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on products from Canada, Mexico and China and the planned retaliation threaten to trigger a trade war and a spiral of inflation in the United States, at a time when the country is recovering from a cycle of rising prices, according to most experts quoted by Efe.

As Trump announced on Sunday, he expects to speak by phone today with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and does not expect ‘anything dramatic’ from these talks, which will take place shortly before the start of new 25% tariffs on most imports from these two neighbouring countries.

The Indian rupee also hit an all-time low today and was trading at 87 per dollar on the international currency markets, affected by the imposition of US tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

In Asia, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main index, the Nikkei, fell by 2.66%, while the Seoul Stock Exchange's main indicator, the Kospi, also fell by 2.52% in Monday's session, after Trump's announcement of higher tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China sparked fears of a new trade war.

Preliminary inflation estimates and the January manufacturing PMI in the eurozone and the US are among the most important data to be released today.

On Friday, Wall Street ended in the red.

On the commodities market, the price of Brent oil, the benchmark in Europe, for delivery in April rose to $76.78, compared to $75.67 on Friday.

Gold, meanwhile, fell by 0.15% to $2,797.4 per ounce.

Bitcoin, the most widely used cryptocurrency on the market, was down 1.47 % to $95,537.

MC/ADB // ADB.

Lusa