Thursday, December 24, 2020 11:12 AM
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange moved slightly higher on Thursday morning in anticipation of the Brexit deal. Around 11:00 am, the AEX index won 0.6 percent, at 626.01 points.
The surrounding exchanges also rose to expectations that the United Kingdom and the European Union will soon announce a trade deal. A press conference is expected to be held later today. Initially, this was set to happen earlier this morning, but according to reports, policymakers want to finalize the “i”. The deal will end more than four years of uncertainty over future relationships between the UK and its trading partners.
“Currency traders believe in a deal. The British pound is going up dramatically,” said Actiam analyst Cornet Van Zigel on Twitter. ING chief investment officer Simon also saw charting higher interest rates on government bonds. “A sign of improved growth prospects,” says Wiersma.
UK banks in particular are up significantly this morning, while the financial sector was also among the biggest rises in Amsterdam.
The deal could allay most of the concerns about major economic disruption in the coming weeks due to Britons leaving the European Union. The agreement may also mean that there are no new import duties on goods between the two parties and less need for many new regulatory measures at national borders.
Moreover, according to ING’s Wiersma, it won’t be long before the US support package is on the table. “The next president, Joe Biden, will then have to return the checks again next year to further stimulate the economy,” the investment director said.
The EUR / USD is steady at 1.2191 this morning. Oil prices have fallen by a few tenths of a percent.
The macroeconomic agenda is nearly empty today. Investors will likely take things easy in the lead up to Christmas. Today Amsterdam stock exchanges closed their doors early.
Gainers and losers
Among the major stocks, ABN AMRO led the way with gains of 2.2%.
Prosus was less at a loss of 1.1 percent. Prosus has a keen interest in Chinese internet company Tencent. Tencent’s rival, Alibaba, fell sharply in Hong Kong this morning after Chinese authorities announced in a short notice that they were investigating the internet giant’s violation of competition rules. Alibaba, along with Tencent, dominates the Chinese internet system that Western companies can barely access.
Flow Traders and PostNL rose 2.0% in AMX. Pharming lost 5.4 percent after the stock was listed on the Nasdaq Technology Exchange on Wednesday. In the run-up to this list, the share was very volatile.
At AScX, the construction BAM Group won 4.3 percent and AMG won 4.7 percent.
