BCP sends Lisbon into the 'red' on a positive day in Europe

The Lisbon stock exchange bucked the optimistic sentiment seen in the European session, marked by the first day of the Jackson Hole meeting in the US. The sharp decline in BCP's value hurt the benchmark index, which ended the day in a loss.

The PSI fell 0.50% to 7,980 points in Friday's session. Millenium BCP fell 3.41%, its shares closing at €0.77, pushing the index into negative territory. Mota-Engil fell 2.72% to €5.19, Corticeira Amorim fell 2.49% to €7.83, and Jerónimo Martins fell 2.43% to €20.90.

On the other hand, EDP Renováveis ​​advanced 2.39% to 10.70 euros per share, while Navigator gained 2.22% to 3.41 euros and Altri added 2.16% to 5.21 euros.

Among the main European counterparts, positive sentiment was noted, generated by Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole. The Fed chairman's tone led to a growing belief that an interest rate cut is planned for the September 17th meeting.

Major indexes posted gains, notably 0.76% in Italy and 0.70% in Spain. This was followed by increases of 0.40% in France, 0.32% in Germany, and 0.09% in the United Kingdom, while the Euro Stoxx 50 aggregate index advanced 0.39%.

In futures, Brent rose 0.03% to $67.69 per barrel, while WTI advanced 0.16% to $63.62 per barrel. In the foreign exchange market, the euro rose 1.01% against the dollar, leaving the euro trading at $1.1723.

"European stock markets closed higher overall, driven by the great enthusiasm on Wall Street, after Jerome Powell left the door open to further interest rate cuts at the September meeting, in his speech at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium," noted the analysis by the Equity Markets Department of Millenium Investment Banking.

"The PSI bucked the trend, with BCP being dragged down by the negative environment for Polish banking, where it owns Bank Millennium, amid news that the Polish Finance Minister intends to increase corporate tax for banks and gradually reduce the tax on bank assets," the analysts point out.

"Jerónimo Martins was also punished by the negative reaction to the accounts of Dino Polska, its Polish competitor, in the country from which the largest share of the Portuguese retailer's revenue comes," they further point out.