Mixed European Markets; Italgas Leads Gains on Mib

(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, at the start of the session, major European indices moved without a clear direction, with Milan's Piazza Affari hovering around 45,900 points and Frankfurt exceeding the 25,000 mark, while Paris and London showed a downward trend.

The day is packed with macroeconomic events, starting with inflation data from the Eurozone and Italy. The statistics released on Tuesday, together with the slowdown in inflation in Germany and France in December, reinforce the European Central Bank's stance to keep monetary policy unchanged.

German retail sales fell by 0.6% month-on-month in November, missing market expectations for a 0.2% increase and reversing the 0.3% rise recorded in the previous month.

In the construction sector, Italy's PMI dropped to 47.9 in December from 48.2 in November, indicating a continued slowdown in the sector, while Germany's indicator rose to 50.3 in December from 45.2 in November.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 0.4% at 45,918.80, the Mid-Cap is up 0.6% at 60,424.58, the Small-Cap rises 0.1% to 37,458.95, while Italy Growth advances 0.3% to 8,861.44.

London's FTSE 100 slips 0.5%, Paris' CAC 40 is fractionally in the red, while Frankfurt's DAX 40 rises 0.5%.

Back in Milan, on the blue-chip list of Piazza Affari, Italgas surged to the top at the open, up 5.5% with over 5.5 million shares already traded.

Snam – up 1.7% – announced Wednesday the launch of a green bond placement for a total amount of EUR500 million maturing in 2031 and convertible into existing ordinary shares of Italgas, as well as an invitation to sell Snam securities denominated "3.25% EUR500 million EU Taxonomy-aligned Transition Bonds" currently outstanding and maturing in 2028.

As the company explained in a note, the bonds will be issued at a nominal value of EUR100,000 and are expected to pay a fixed annual coupon between 1.50% and 2.00%, payable on a semi-annual deferred basis on January 14 and July 14 each year, with the first coupon payment scheduled for July 14, 2026.

Strong buying for A2A, up 2.7%. Regarding news of the launch of an antitrust investigation by the AGCM into A2A, A2A E-Mobility, and A2A Energia concerning electric mobility services, the companies stated they have acted in full compliance with principles of transparency, fairness, and competition.

Telecom Italia – up 1.1% – announced it has reached a preliminary agreement with Fastweb + Vodafone to initiate cooperation in developing mobile access networks through a Radio Access Network sharing model, with the aim of accelerating the rollout of 5G in Italy.

The agreement is preparatory to the signing of a definitive contract, expected by the second quarter of 2026.

Among the decliners, STMicroelectronics falls 1.4%, after gaining 5.3% on Tuesday evening.

Eni and Saipem drop 1.9% and 2.3%, respectively.

At the bottom of the main index at the open sits Tenaris, down 2.6%, with over 600,000 shares changing hands.

On the Mid-Cap, gains for Technoprobe and Avio, up 2.2% and 1.0%, respectively.

Pirelli & C performs well, advancing 2.0% to EUR6.278 per share. The Italian government is considering intervention on the Pirelli dossier, up to possibly freezing the voting rights of Chinese shareholder Sinochem at 34% to protect business in the USA. The news was first reported by the Financial Times, with no official comment from either Sinochem or the company.

Among the most traded stocks, BFF Bank slips 0.5% while Interpump Group retreats 0.2%.

At the bottom of the secondary list is LU-VE, down 4.4% to EUR38.20 per share.

On the Small-Cap, OPS eCom drops 4.1% at the open. The company announced the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to begin due diligence on a possible acquisition of the CallAgent technology platform, aiming to enter the voice artificial intelligence sector.

Selling also hit SIT, which falls 2.1%.

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi Di Bologna – flat at EUR10.25 – announced a record 2025, with over 11 million passengers registered, a 3.4% increase over the previous year.

Trevi Finanziaria Industriale slips 0.3% after hitting a 52-week high at EUR0.728 per share.

Among SMEs, expert.ai leads the most traded stocks by value, gaining 3.2%.

Strong buying for Farmacosmo, up 9.1% to EUR0.722 per share.

Casta Diva Group – up 0.5% – acquired the events division of Prodea Group, as reported by Milano Finanza on Wednesday. The transaction was carried out through its subsidiary Nautilus 6 and is part of Prodea Group's negotiated crisis resolution procedure.

Ubaldi Costruzioni has allocated a total of 190,680 ordinary shares of the company free of charge.

Specifically, 1 bonus share was allocated for every 5 ordinary shares purchased as part of the offer aimed at admission to trading on Euronext Growth Milan. The stock has not yet seen any trades.

At the tail end of the alternative list is Soges, down 3.0%.

In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones gained 1.0%, the Nasdaq rose 0.7%, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.6%.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed down 1.1%, the Shanghai Composite finished up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng lost 0.9%.

On the currency front, the euro trades at USD1.1684 from USD1.1688 at Tuesday's European equity close, while the pound trades at USD1.3493 from USD1.3498 last night.

Among commodities, Brent trades at USD60.28 per barrel from USD61.63 per barrel at Tuesday's European equity close, while gold is valued at USD4,469.02 an ounce from USD4,484.32 an ounce last night.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, focus is on the Eurozone from 1100 CET with the consumer price index, while from 1300 CET attention shifts to US mortgages and, later at 1600 CET, to US manufacturing. From 1630 CET, focus is on the EIA.

No significant announcements are expected on Piazza Affari.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to [e-mail]

Copyright 2026 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.