Negative trimester holds PSI-20’s gains

The Lisbon Stock Exchange closes the first half of the year with a positive balance, but the course has been anything but linear. The beginning of the year was of correction of December’s upward trend while the second trimester was of devaluation. Is expected for central banks to give some impulsion to the markets next semester, despite geopolitics playing a decisive role.

“The performance of PSI-20 was positive during the first trimester, although it has cooled in the second trimester, especially after the devaluation that occurred in May.  Anyways, a performance above 8% is always positive and is in line with the Spanish market”, Pedro Barata, GNB’s Senior Portfolio Manager, commented.

PSI-20 accumulates a gain of 8.58% since the beginning of the year, despite this trimester’s devaluation of 1.33%. This last session, Lisbon valued 0.68% to 5,137.47 points.  This semester is considered the best of PSI-20 since 2017 when the Portuguese Index increased in value of more than 10%.

The GNB’s Senior Portfolio Manager points out the negative interest rates, the economic recovery and the positive evolution of other developed markets as the main factors influencing PSI-20. Nevertheless, Pedro Barata recalls “that in the rest of Europe, markets have been stronger with returns doubling those of the Iberian markets”.

Thus, comparing with other stocks, PSI-20 stays behind other European markets. The pan-European Index Stoxx 600 accumulates gains of 13.87% this semester after a valuation of 0.60% this last session. German DAX valued 1.09% this semester and 16% this session while the French CAC 40 valued 0.93% and 16% for this semester and session, respectively. Only the Spanish IBEX-35 valued less than Lisbon’s with a valuation of 0.56% this last session and 7% this semester.