(Alliance News) - The Mib advanced towards the 42,400 mark on Thursday, recovering part of the previous session's losses and moving in line with most of its European peers.
Midweek, trading floors are focused on a series of upcoming corporate results, while closely monitoring the evolving US-China situation. Beijing announced Thursday it will hold a new round of trade talks with the US in Malaysia, as the world's two largest economies seek to avoid further escalation of a damaging reciprocal tariff war.
"As agreed by China and the US... Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead a delegation to Malaysia from October 24 to 27 and will hold economic and trade talks with the US," the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
The Mib is currently up 0.5% at 42,412.89 points.
London's FTSE is up 0.4%, Paris' CAC 40 is gaining 0.3%, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 0.4%.
Among the secondary indices, the Mid-Cap is up 0.1% at 57,431.98, the Small-Cap rises 0.2% to 36,812.43, and Italy Growth slips 0.1% to 8,660.94 points.
On the Mib in Milan, Telecom Italia drops 1.6% to EUR0.49 per share, heading for its third consecutive bearish candlestick if confirmed at close.
The board of STMicroelectronics--which is down 3.2%--on Thursday approved third-quarter results for the period ending September 27. The group posted a net profit of USD237 million, or USD0.26 per diluted share, compared to USD381 million in the same period of 2024. Net revenues for the quarter stood at USD3.19 billion, down 2% year-on-year, but up 15.2% from the previous quarter, exceeding the midpoint of guidance by 60 basis points.
Eni is also gaining, up 2.6% to EUR15.56 per share, on track for its seventh consecutive bullish session.
Leonardo remains bullish, rising 2.2%. The company, together with Airbus and Thales, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a new European space sector company, with operations expected to begin in 2027 pending regulatory approvals.
Shareholding will be split between Airbus (35%), and Leonardo and Thales (32.5% each), with shared governance. For this operation, Leonardo has appointed Deutsche Bank as sole financial advisor, tasked with guiding the group through financial and strategic evaluations related to the joint venture.
UniCredit--up 1.6%--announced Thursday it has launched the second and final tranche of its "Residuo SBB 2024" share buyback program, authorized by the March 27 shareholders' meeting. The plan foresees a maximum investment of EUR1.77 billion and the purchase of no more than 82.5 million ordinary shares, equal to about 5% of the share capital. The program is expected to conclude by February 2026.
On the Mid-Cap, Safilo is up 3.2%. The company, engaged in its buyback plan, announced Tuesday it had recently acquired 575,000 of its own ordinary shares for a total consideration of approximately EUR968,000.
Avio is also strong, gaining 5.0% to EUR46.00 per share after a 2.3% decline in the previous session.
MAIRE--down 0.2%--through its subsidiary NextChem, announced Thursday the launch of Next-N, a new company dedicated to intellectual property creation and engineering services for the next-generation nuclear sector. Simultaneously, Next-N secured a EUR70 million contract from newcleo to develop the basic design of the conventional island and balance of plant of a "First of a Kind" nuclear facility based on a 200 MW advanced modular reactor. The final investment decision is expected in 2029.
Cementir Holding is down 2.0%, after gaining 1.4% in the previous session.
Philogen is also retreating, down 2.1% after a 0.4% loss in the previous session.
On the Small-Cap, Somec raises its share price by 3.2% after two sessions ending with bearish candlesticks.
Borgosesia is up 2.5%, after a 1.1% contraction in the previous session.
Eurotech drops 3.9% to EUR0.97 per share, heading for its third consecutive bearish session.
Among SMEs, Emma Villas advances 3.2% to EUR1.92 per share, after a 2.1% decline in the previous session.
Eles surges over 12%, after a 0.4% dip the previous day. Xenon AIFM SA, manager of the Xenon Private Equity VIII SCA SICAV-RAIF fund, announced two voluntary total public tender offers for Eles Semiconductor Equipment.
The board of Gismondi 1754--still not traded with the last price at EUR1.98--approved the consolidated management results for the third quarter of 2025 on Wednesday evening. In the period, the company posted total sales of EUR2.1 million, down 21% from EUR2.6 million in the same quarter of 2024. The quarter, while showing a year-on-year decline, marks an improvement over the second quarter of 2025, when the drop was 40%.
Deodato.Gallery, on the other hand, falls 8.8%, following a 4.2% loss at Wednesday's close.
In New York, during the European evening, the Dow Jones fell 0.7%, the Nasdaq lost 0.9%, while the S&P500 closed down 0.5%.
In Asia, the Nikkei dropped 1.4%, the Hang Seng gained 0.6%, while the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.2%.
On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD1.1593 from USD1.1614 at Wednesday's equity close, while the pound exchanges at USD1.3350 from USD1.3366 at the last European close.
Among commodities, Brent is trading at USD64.67 per barrel from USD62.38 per barrel at last night's close, while gold is valued at USD4,102.00 per ounce against USD4,042.56 per ounce yesterday evening.
On Thursday's economic calendar, UK industrial orders data are expected at 1200 CEST.
US unemployment figures will arrive at 1430 CEST, while ECB member Lane will deliver a speech at 1530 CEST, and at 1600, Eurozone consumer sentiment data is due.
By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News Reporter
Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2025 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.
