Lisbon stock market losses €5.1Bn
Investor fears over the coronavirus have fuelled share value losses of €5.1Bn this week on Lisbon stock market’s PSI-120 index.
Losses were led by oil and gas company Galp Energia which sank 5% with a loss of 3.1% to 4.952,15 points — its lowest share value since October 2019.
Since the start of the week, Lisbon’s stock market has accumulated losses of 8%, equivalent of €5Bn.
“The accumulation of evidence that the virus is spreading widely has only added to investor jitters”, explain BPI bank analysts in a close of session note.
“The national stock market closed with high losses, a trend that is in line with the rest of Europe. The spiral of losses has affected almost all companies on the PSI-20 (the only exception being the multibrand company Ibersol) with six of them suffering losses of over 3%.
Galp Energia led the losses, echoing the impact of fears about the virus on the price of petroleum (which tanked more than 4% on the year). Galp, led by Carlos Gomes da Silva lost 5% value falling to €13.02 a share, which means it has lost €980 million in one day’s trading.
NOS (-4.46%), Sonae (-4.45%), CTT (-4.34%) and Altri (-4.13%) were all listed companies that suffered considerable losses for the session, while even EDP (part-owned by China Three Gorges) lost -3.6%, EDP Renováveis (-1.11%) and REN (-2.8%).
“We’ve probably got a few more days of falls with some tame recoveries before the stock markets eventually stabilise” said Bankinter analyst João Pisco.
“The impact of the virus will continue to be felt into the first quarter of 2020 and perhaps, to a lesser extent, into part of the second quarter of 2020. The impact is there but we think it will be a passing one”, said the analyst.