Bel20 cannot hold on to opening profit

(ABM FN) The Bel20 index was 0.3 percent lower at 4,253 points around eleven o’clock on Thursday.

After a strong 2024, 2025 has gotten off to a cautious start.

Deutsche Bank looked back on the financial year 2024. The fact that last year was so good was due to economic growth, which surprised positively, and because central banks finally started lowering interest rates. That meant the S&P 500 had a total return of 25 percent.

But despite the generally optimistic performance, there were plenty of hurdles through 2024, Deutsche Bank analysts said.

Interest rate cuts took longer to materialize than many expected. Political developments also caused fluctuations, according to Deutsche Bank, especially around April when tensions in the Middle East escalated. In France, the country’s assets underperformed amid political uncertainty.

And there was huge, if short-lived, market turbulence in the summer, when weak US data and a Bank of Japan rate hike led to the unwinding of the yen carry trade.

The euro/dollar rose to 1.0363 on Thursday. The ten-year German interest rate fell slightly to 2.359 percent.

Risers and fallers

Umicore led the way on Thursday with a gain of 1.3 percent. D’Ieteren gained 1.1 percent and Solvay followed with a one percent gain.

This morning, Berenberg lowered the price target for Solvay from EUR 35.00 to EUR 32.00, but maintained the Hold recommendation. According to Berenberg, 2025 may start under a less favorable star. Consensus estimates for EBITDA are reasonable and perhaps even on the low side. But according to Berenberg, the Solvay share is no longer that cheap.

UCB had to give up 1.5 percent. Syensqo became 0.9 percent cheaper.

DEME’s profit stood out on the broad market. The share rose by 5.5 percent.

Among the small caps, Hyloris lost more than 4 percent, but Onward Medical rose by 3.5 percent and CFE became 2.9 percent more expensive.

Door: ABM Financial News.
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Bron: ABM Financial News

ABM Financial News is the supplier of stock market news in the Benelux. The information in this article is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.