Sweden's equity market closed lower on Friday as selling pressure in Telecoms, Industrials and Basic Materials pushed the benchmark down. At the Stockholm close, the OMX Stockholm 30 index was down 0.90%, marking a new one-month low for the measure.
Among constituents, the session's strongest performers on the OMX Stockholm 30 were:
- AstraZeneca PLC (ST:AZN) - up 3.33% or 58.00 points, closing at 1,798.00.
- Svenska Handelsbanken AB A (ST:SHBa) - rose 1.23% or 1.45 points to 119.10.
- Swedbank AB ser A (ST:SWEDa) - advanced 1.22% or 3.70 points to finish at 307.90.
On the downside, the session's weakest stocks included:
- EQT AB (ST:EQTAB) - declined 4.05% or 11.70 points to close at 277.30.
- SAAB AB ser. B (ST:SAABb) - fell 3.60% or 22.10 points, ending at 591.70.
- Essity AB B (ST:ESSITYb) - down 3.48% or 8.70 points to 241.30.
Market breadth on the Stockholm Stock Exchange tilted heavily toward decliners, with 500 stocks falling compared with 229 that advanced, while 55 issues finished unchanged.
In commodities markets, energy and precious metals moved higher. Crude oil for May delivery gained 4.56%, adding 4.31 to settle at $98.79 a barrel. Brent futures for June delivery climbed 2.65%, up $2.70 to $104.59 a barrel. The June Gold Futures contract rose 3.01%, or 132.90, to trade at $4,541.90 a troy ounce.
Foreign exchange moves showed modest weakening in the Swedish krona. The euro quoted against the krona (EUR/SEK) was up 0.30% at 10.90, and the dollar versus the krona (USD/SEK) rose 0.36% to 9.46. The US Dollar Index Futures ended the session higher by 0.22% at 99.93.
Summary of market action:
- OMX Stockholm 30 closed down 0.90% at a one-month low.
- Biggest gains: AstraZeneca, Svenska Handelsbanken AB A, Swedbank AB ser A.
- Biggest declines: EQT AB, SAAB AB ser. B, Essity AB B.
- Commodities saw notable strength in crude oil, Brent and gold futures.
- Market breadth favored decliners by more than two-to-one.