European Markets Open Higher; TIM and STM Lead Gains on the Mib

(Alliance News) - On Friday, Europe's main stock indices kicked off the final session of the week in positive territory. This uptick appears to be driven by a possible technical rebound, with investors remaining cautious amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and the risk of direct US involvement.

President Donald Trump stated that Iran has been given a final opportunity to reach an agreement on its nuclear program, delaying a decision on potential military intervention for up to two weeks.

Meanwhile, markets are digesting a week packed with central bank decisions: both the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, while the Swiss National Bank cut rates to 0%, signaling a move toward a more expansive monetary policy.

The FTSE Mib is up 0.7% at 39,229.11 points, with a put/call ratio of 0.60.

Among the smaller indices, the Mid-Cap rises 0.7% to 53,199.22 points, the Small-Cap climbs 0.7% to 30,768.41 points, while the Italy Growth index hovers just above parity at 8,127.62.

Frankfurt's DAX is up 0.8%, Paris' CAC advances 0.6%, and London's FTSE 100 gains 0.3%.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia is up 1.2% at €0.3976, having hit a new 52-week high of €0.40 per share during trading.

STMicroelectronics rises 1.3% to €25.26 per share. Notably, Deutsche Bank lowered its price target on the stock to €30.00 from the previous €26.00.

UniCredit is up 0.9%, while Banco BPM advances 0.3%.

The EU Antitrust authority has approved UniCredit's acquisition of Banco BPM, conditional on the divestment of 209 branches to avoid competition issues in local markets.

The Commission deemed the commitments sufficient, rejecting Italy's request to handle the case at the national level. The government's stance on the use of Golden Power remains unresolved, with the Ministry of Economy and Finance imposing three conditions: exit from Russia within nine months, restrictions on government bonds, and a loans-to-deposits ratio. UniCredit particularly contests the forced exit from the Russian market, which has already been significantly scaled back.

Italgas - down 0.1% - announced Thursday that the rights offering period for up to 202.9 million new Italgas ordinary shares, stemming from the capital increase approved at the April 10 shareholders' meeting, has ended.

During the rights offering period, which began on June 2, 801.2 million rights were exercised to subscribe to 200.3 million new shares, accounting for roughly 98.7% of the total new shares offered, for a total price of €1 billion.

On the Mid-Cap, strength is seen in Moltiply Group, up 1.4% and aiming for a third consecutive bullish session.

Technoprobe is up 1.3% after two bearish sessions, with the share price around €7.25.

Juventus Football Club - up 0.6% - announced Thursday it has renewed its technical partnership with adidas through June 30, 2037. The current contract, valid until June 30, 2027, remains unchanged; the new agreement will last ten years, from the 2027-2028 season through the 2036-2037 season.

During this period, adidas will continue as the technical partner for all Juventus teams, for a total fixed fee of €408 million over the life of the agreement.

Lottomatica - up 0.3% - announced Wednesday it has launched its €500 million buyback plan. The plan will last no more than 18 months, and as of now, the company holds no treasury shares.

On the Small-Cap, Class Editori rallies again, up 10% at €0.17. Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone has increased his stake in Class Editori to 5.163% via the VM 2006 holding, according to a transaction dated June 11, 2025. The stake increase comes just ahead of the publisher's shareholder meeting scheduled for June 26 and 27.

The update, sourced from Consob's records on significant holdings, confirms a substantial rise from the 2.5% threshold registered in prior days and attributed to the same Roman entrepreneur.

Fiera Milano - up 0.5% - announced it has won the tender organized by Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 for the contract covering the design, management, and dismantling of temporary infrastructure at the Rho exhibition center, which will host ice skating and hockey events next year.

The total contract value is €30.7 million, based on the Interim Agreement signed between Milano Fiera and Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026.

Enervit, meanwhile, is down 1.8% at €3.20 per share, after gaining 0.6% in the previous session.

Pininfarina is also down, losing 4.4% to €0.7740 per share. The stock - which has not paid a dividend since 2005 - had gained a combined 3.8% over the previous two sessions.

Among SMEs, Impianti is up 2.3%, marking its third consecutive rising session.

ErreDue posts a 2.0% gain with shares around €7.85. On the MarketScreener platform - based on the assessment of a single analyst - the stock has a target price of €10.30, implying an undervaluation of roughly 33%.

ICOP - up 1.2% - announced Thursday the full conversion of 2.4 million Price Adjustment Shares into an equal number of ordinary shares, with no change to the total share capital.

The PAS conversion followed confirmation that the 2024 Ebitda target of €40 million had been reached.

Among decliners, Haiki+ drops 3.9% after two positive sessions.

US stock markets remained closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed down 0.2%, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.1%, while the Hang Seng gained 0.9%.

In currencies, the euro trades at USD1.1514 compared to USD1.1470 on Thursday evening, while the pound is at USD1.3473 versus USD1.3428 in the previous session.

In commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD76.65 per barrel, down from USD78.37 at the previous close, while gold is valued at USD3,351.45 per ounce, down from USD3,365.775 previously.

Friday's economic calendar includes the ECB's monthly report at 10:00 CEST and, later at 12:00 CEST, the Eurogroup meeting.

Overseas, at 14:30 CEST, Canada's retail sales data and the Philadelphia Fed's economic conditions index in the US are due.

At Piazza Affari, Zucchi will present its results.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News Reporter

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