The Ibex 35 rises 7.9% but ends 2021 as the stock market furthest behind in a year of market records

Just over 614 points, that has been the balance of the Ibex 35 in a year of significant gains for the stock markets of almost the entire world. Only the Asian markets have done worse and only the mini rally of these last days of the year has made up a weakness of the Spanish selective that is becoming chronic and that has placed it, once again, as the student furthest behind among the main markets of Europe and USA.

The main index of the Spanish stock markets ends 2021 with 8,713 integers, 7.9% more than it had in January. The balance may seem positive taking into account the setbacks of previous years, but put into perspective, the analysis changes: the rest of the European indices almost double that rise (as is the case of the Frankfurt Dax, with an advance of 15.7% ); They triple it (such as the Ftse Mib in Milan, with 22.5% more, or the Eurostoxx 50, with 20.7% more), or they have registered even greater progress (such as the Cac 40 in Paris, which has grown by 28.35%).

All this in a year that has gone from more to less as far as equities are concerned. With the rise in inflation forcing central banks to reorient their roadmaps; with the crisis in the supply chain that has collapsed global trade; with the crisis also of microchips and components; with skyrocketing energy and raw material prices, and with the appearance of omicrons, which in the last quarter has once again put companies and governments around the world in check before a possible slowdown in the recovery.

Javier Molina, an analyst at eToro, entitled "From the year of historical records to the absolute weakness of the Ibex 35" one of his latest analysis, and it is probably the most synthetic and graphic summary of the stock markets of the year. In it, Molina pointed to the "absolute weakness, very low volume and the feeling of an increasingly higher opportunity cost if resources are allocated" to the Spanish indicator.

For others, such as the Bankinter Analysis department, "the asymmetry is explained by business results, both in the case of the all-time highs on Wall Street, and the negative decoupling of the Spanish stock market".

Causes

To the circumstantial reasons we must add the structural ones, and that is that the composition of the Spanish selective continues to be its main burden when it comes to attracting investors. "The still high weight of financial companies, as well as the delay in the recovery of figures in the sectors related to tourism and mobility, explains almost all of this difference in profits. Although not all," they point out from Bankinter. "The growth prospects of the Spanish economy highly dependent on the receipt and correct use of NGEU2 European funds conditioned to a series of reforms still pending, as well as the doubtful opportunity of raising the fiscal pressure precisely now, when the post-crisis recovery is more vulnerable, with the creation of five new taxes and raising the rates applicable to several others". The entity refers to the so-called 'Google tax', the tax on sugary drinks, the 'Tobin tax', the tax on plastics and green taxation.

Despite this, more than half of the Ibex 35 companies have ended the year in the green or, in other words, only nine have closed with a negative sign. The newcomer Rovi crowns the podium of the best values, with an advance of 95.7% that has allowed it to almost double its capitalization to 4,138 million euros.

Second place goes to Fluidra, the swimming pool giant that once again scored a good year thanks to a revaluation of 70%. However, one of the biggest surprises is in the number three position, occupied this year by Banco Sabadell. And it is surprising because it is a bank -taking into account that the rates have remained unchanged in these 12 months- and because it is Sabadell, which in previous years had been penalized for the weakness of some areas of its business.

Nothing to do with 2021, since the bank's shares have accumulated a rise of over 67% to stand at 0.59 euros and have raised the capitalization to 3,330 million euros.

Banks and tourism

In general, it has been a positive year for the Ibex 35 financial sector in which Bankinter (+37.1%), BBVA (+33.6%), Santander (+18.6%) and CaixaBank (+16%). ) have recorded notable increases after several years of decline. The experts point out that the entities are at valuations below their historical averages and that they are benefiting from the greater economic dynamism and from the prospects of normalizing rates for next year.

They will undoubtedly be one of the focuses of attention in 2022 along with other segments such as tourism. It seemed that 2021, with the reopening of the activity and the borders, was going to allow tourism companies to recover from the blow that was 2020, however, the delays in the vaccination processes, the appearance of omicrons and the return of restrictions in the final stretch of the year have ended up weighing down, again, securities such as IAG (-4.9%), Aena (-2.4%) or Amadeus, which has saved the green by the minimum (+0.13%) . Meliá, for its part, has registered an increase of 4.9%.

Along with tourism, energy and pharmaceutical companies are the other group of companies most affected in the Spanish index. Siemens Gamesa closes with the dubious honor of being the worst value in the selection (-36.3%), ahead of Grifols, Solaria, PharmaMar and Iberdrola. Energy companies have suffered the impact of regulatory changes and uncertainty in this regard has outweighed the increase in prices recorded since the middle of the year.

Two other names of the Ibex 35 at the end of the year in the markets were Telefónica and Inditex. The former has managed to recover 29.6% in the process of debt and workforce reduction to adapt to the new context of telecommunications; the second closes with 12.3% more in its shares to face the relief in the dome that will give the presidency to Marta Ortega. The textile giant continues to be the most powerful company of all those that make up the index with a capitalization of 88,918 million euros, 20,000 million more than Iberdrola (66,271) and almost 40,000 more than Banco Santander (50,990).

According to the criteria of