VIENNA (dpa-AFX) – The Vienna Stock Exchange closed on Tuesday with losses. After the positive start to the week, a bad mood prevailed on the markets across Europe. The ATX kept its losses relatively low over the course of the day. Towards the end of the trading session, however, the leading domestic index also slipped deeper into the red. In the end it was 0.84 percent down at 3996.73 points.
The ATX slipped back below the round mark of 4000 points, which it had surpassed for the first time since 2008 yesterday, Monday. Meanwhile, the broader ATX Prime also fell 0.81 percent to 2,001.43 units on Tuesday.
Concerns about interest rates and high inflation continue to be the dominant topics on the stock markets. The US Federal Reserve in particular is facing sustained pressure to adjust interest rates in view of the sharp rise in inflation. Analysts are now expecting up to four interest rate hikes this year. Interest rate expectations are also rising in Europe, although the European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to react much later than the Fed in the USA, according to experts.
Meanwhile, mixed signals came from economic data on Tuesday. According to the ZEW balance, the economic expectations among financial experts in Germany have brightened significantly. Compared to the previous month, the indicator rose by 21.8 points to 51.7 points. In the run-up, only a slight increase to 32.0 points had been expected on average. On the other hand, two US sentiment indicators from industry and the real estate market were weaker than expected.
In the ATX Prime on Tuesday, the stocks of the oil field supplier Schoeller-Bleckmann (SBO) were in focus. Before the start of the stock market, the group had presented its preliminary figures for the past 2021 financial year. The company posted a positive operating result (EBIT) of 28 million euros. The year before, SBO had posted a loss of this magnitude. After the significant increases of over three percent on Monday, the SBO papers also rose by 0.7 percent on Tuesday.
The papers at Vienna Airport meanwhile fell by 0.5 percent. Vienna Airport also presented its traffic results for the past year before the start of the market on Tuesday. The group recorded a slump in passenger numbers compared to the pre-crisis year 2019 of around 67 percent to 10.4 million travelers. Despite a very low number of passengers in the first quarter, the airport expects around 17 million passengers for the year as a whole.
Looking at the price tableau in the ATX, utility stocks in particular were among the losers on Tuesday. The group’s shares lost 2.5 percent and EVN fell by 2.6 percent. Voestalpine stocks also closed 2.4 percent lighter and Lenzing closed 2.8 percent weaker./pma/spo/APA/ngu