At approximately 09:45 in Lisbon, the PSI maintained its opening trend, rising 0.25% to 7,438.28 points, with 10 stocks advancing and five declining.
On Tuesday, the PSI closed at 7,456.30 points, marking a new high since June 2014.
Following Sonae, shares of Corticeira Amorim, Altri, and Jerónimo Martins rose by 1.29% to €7.87, 1.15% to €5.27, and 1.03% to €21.62, respectively.
Slightly more modest increases were seen in the shares of BCP, Semapa, and Navigator, which gained 0.79% to €0.67, 0.58% to €17.34, and 0.53% to €3.43, respectively.
The other three stocks that appreciated were Galp, REN, and NOS, which increased by 0.45% to €14.56, 0.34% to €2.97, and 0.13% to €3.90, respectively.
Conversely, following EDP Renováveis, shares of CTT, Ibersol, and EDP declined by 0.78% to €7.63, 0.40% to €9.90, and 0.39% to €3.57, respectively.
Shares of Mota-Engil also depreciated by 0.09% to €4.52.
Main European stock exchanges opened today with varying trends as they await the European Central Bank (ECB) decision on interest rates, which is expected to lower the main rate by 25 basis points to 2%.
European markets are focused on the ECB’s interest rate decision, to be announced at 13:15 in Lisbon, followed by a press conference from the ECB President, Christine Lagarde, half an hour later.
Investors are also watching the U.S. trade balance, final non-farm productivity data for the first quarter, unit labor costs, and initial weekly jobless claims.
Wall Street closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones down, ending four consecutive days of gains with news that ADP’s private-sector payrolls are at their lowest in over two years.
The ADP report prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to again urge Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates.
Investors will also pay attention to trade negotiations, following the U.S. increase of tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% on Wednesday.
The price of gold per troy ounce, a safe-haven asset, decreased by 0.26% to $3,371.44, compared to $3,375.13 on Wednesday and the current all-time high of $3,414.65 recorded on April 21.
Brent crude oil for August delivery, the benchmark in Europe, advanced to $65.19 per barrel, up from $64.86 on Wednesday, due to the OPEC+ decision to increase production in July as well as rising tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran-U.S. nuclear negotiations.
The euro fell to $1.1419 in the Frankfurt forex market, down from $1.1433 on Wednesday and $1.1509 on April 21, a new high since November 12, 2021.
