While most of the stock markets register a negative trend due to greater risk aversion due to the little progress in the agreements between Russia and Ukraine, the main local indices closed with their eighth historical maximum at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
The S&P/BMV IPC rose 1.29 percent to 56,536.68 points, while the FTSE BIVA increased 1.21 percent. to stay at 1,166.21 units, which would be its eighth historical record of the year for both indicators.
At the quarterly cut, the main indicator of the BMV registered a rise of 6.1 percent and the FTSE BIVA increased 5.9 percent, which was its second positive increase for the same period.
During March, the S&P/BMV IPC and the FTSE BIVA posted a positive variation of 5.9 percent, respectively, the largest gain for both indicators since the end of December 2021.
On Wall Street the negative trend continuesas the Dow Jones dropped 1.56 percent to 34,678.35 points, the S&P 500 fell 1.57 percent to 4,530.41 points, while the Nasdaq fell 1.54 percent to 14,220.52 points. .
for the quarter, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq they present decreases of 4.6, 4.9 and 9.1 percent, respectively, the lowest for the same period in two years.
“Markets closed sharply lower on the last day of the quarter as falling energy prices failed to spur a broader market rally. Defensive sectors such as consumer staples and utilities fared better on the day. This comes as the Biden administration announced a plan to release one million barrels of oil per day from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR),” said analysts at consultancy Edward Jones.
They added that despite the uncertainty surrounding inflation, the Fed’s trajectory, and the ongoing crisis in Russia/Ukraine, there are two areas of relative strength in the US economy that we continue to monitor closely. The first is the American consumer and the second is corporate earnings growth.
The monthly return for the Dow Jones was a positive 2.3 percent, while for the S&P 500 it was a gain of 3.6 percent, the largest increase since last December for both indicators, and the Nasdaq rose 3.4 percent, the highest monthly variation since October 2021.
On the other hand, Bitcoin is trading at a price of 45,735.85 dollars per cryptocurrency, which meant a decrease of 3.26 percent compared to Wednesday, linking its third day with falls.
US pressurized oil
International oil prices came under pressure as the US president, Joe Biden announced that he plans to release 180 million barrels of his strategic reserves of oil in the coming months.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased 6.43 percent to a price of 100.89 dollars per barrel. On the other hand, Brent fell 6.9 percent to a price of 107.91 dollars per barrel.
For March, oil shows its fourth consecutive month of gains, as WTI and Brent increased 5.4 and 6.9 percent. While in the quarter they grew 34.1 and 38.7 percent, respectively.
“Oil slumped because the US would be evaluating the release of a million barrels per day from reserves to combat inflation and supply shortages. The plan, which includes the release of 180 million barrels over several months, might help balance the market this year, but it will not solve a structural deficit.
The price of precious metals have mixed behaviors, since the price of gold increased 0.25 percent to settle at 1,937.69 dollars per ounce and silver decreased 0.30 percent to settle at a price of 24,799 dollars per ounce.
