Mib Closes Lower as Geopolitical Fears Weigh on Markets

(Alliance News) - On Thursday, major European markets showed uncertainty, closing lower amid ongoing ambiguities surrounding international trade.

Reports from the White House indicate that in the coming weeks, President Donald Trump will send notifications to trade partners about the imposition of unilateral tariffs. On the other hand, the US Treasury has signaled the possibility of extending the suspension of tariffs--originally set for 90 days--for countries that demonstrate cooperation with the US. Meanwhile, hypothetical scenarios of an Israeli attack on Iran are fueling further uncertainty.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, commented: "Yesterday's consumer price inflation data failed to lift the markets, but buyers are making another attempt on the back of producer price index figures, which followed a similar trend. There's a calmer tone after last night's mini-panic over fears of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran, though nerves are likely to persist for now."

"With inflation data now out of the way, earnings season over, and expectations of 'no change' from the Fed next week, investors would do well to remember the old adage: 'never short a quiet market.'"

The analyst continued: "Uncertainty over tariffs has taken a back seat to war fears, becoming the main driver behind gold's rally. The price is once again testing the USD3,400 area, a level that has defined the extent of gains over the past two months. Renewed weakness in the US dollar, of course, is always a tailwind, and since inflation still appears contained, there is reason to expect further downside for the greenback ahead of next week's likely uneventful Fed meeting."

The FTSE Mib closed Thursday down 0.6% at 39,948.39 points. The Mid-Cap dropped 0.7% to 54,383.65, the Small-Cap finished down 0.9% at 31,106.99, while Italy Growth lost 0.4% to 8,106.81.

Across Europe, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, Germany's DAX 40 slipped 0.7%, and Paris's CAC 40 edged down 0.1%.

In Milan, blue-chip Eni led the pack, rising 1.5% to EUR13.8580 per share, as it continued its buyback program worth over EUR50 million.

On Thursday, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court rejected Banco BPM's request--shares up 0.2%--to suspend the public exchange offer launched by UniCredit--down 0.1%--on the Piazza Meda lender. BPM CEO Giuseppe Castagna reiterated, "As the market has always shown, the exchange offer for Banco BPM remains unattractive for shareholders and has been so from day one."

The entry of Poste Italiane--down 0.3%--to a 24.8% stake in TIM, which fell 1.2% and is preparing for a governance reshuffle, pushed the share price up to EUR0.39 from EUR0.29 recently, despite today's pullback.

At the June 24 shareholders' meeting, as reported by daily newspaper la Repubblica, savings shareholders will propose Emanuele Rimini as new common representative, replacing Dario Trevisan, who will remain as an advisor.

Stellantis fell 2.7% while Brunello Cucinelli lost 3.0%.

Buzzi--down 1.6% at EUR44.92--reported Wednesday that Standard & Poor's had upgraded its long-term credit rating from 'BBB' to 'BBB+', confirming the short-term rating at 'A-2'.

Among mid-caps, take-up of the public purchase and exchange offer launched by Banca Ifis--down 1.3%--for illimity accelerated, as reported Thursday by Il Sole 24 Ore. On Wednesday, about 8 million acceptance requests were received, bringing the total to 21.59% of shares targeted by the offer, or 18.2 million shares, up from 12.09% the previous day.

Maire Group--up 0.1%--launched the placement of around 5 million ordinary shares, equal to 1.5% of capital, following the achievement of targets in the 2022-2024 and 2023-2025 incentive plans.

Sol closed up 1.5%, with shares at EUR47.75 each.

On the Small-Cap, Mondo TV continued its strong run, jumping 19%, while Class Editori followed with a gain of over 15%.

Edison's board--up 1%--on Thursday appointed Bernard Fontana as the company's new director, replacing outgoing director Luc Rémont.

Additionally, Patrigest--a Gabetti Group company specializing in advisory and real estate valuations--was named exclusive advisor for the management of a portfolio worth around EUR83 million, as announced by Gabetti on Wednesday. The portfolio comprises 12 mixed-use properties located in Northern and Central Italy. The mandate comes from the BNL/BNP Paribas Italy Pension Fund, via Fondaco Previdenza Immobiliare. Gabetti shares rose 3.6% to EUR0.75 apiece.

Fidia--unchanged at EUR0.0055 per share--announced Wednesday it will proceed with a reverse stock split effective June 16, at a ratio of 1 new share for every 100 existing shares. The operation will reduce the number of shares in circulation from 746.6 million to 7.5 million.

Among SMEs, Eprcomunicazione surged 15%, while Crowndfundme climbed 12%.

Almawave--steady at EUR3.22 per share--announced Thursday that Velvet, its family of generative AI models, is now supported as the "Default LLM" within Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Data Science AI Quick Actions, a platform enabling Oracle customers to easily test and deploy commercial foundation AI models.

Circle--down 0.6%--on Thursday announced the signing of a new contract worth EUR200,000 over about 12 months, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen interoperability and drive digital evolution in the national port system.

On Wall Street, the Dow is currently flat at 42,883.48 points, the Nasdaq is up 0.1% at 19,630.44, and the S&P 500 is also up 0.1% at 6,030.34.

In currencies, the euro is trading at USD1.1581, up from USD1.1487 on Wednesday evening, while the pound is at USD1.359, up from USD1.3546 the previous night.

In commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD69.34 a barrel from USD69.77 at the previous close, while gold is at USD3,385.70 an ounce from USD3,358.45 the day before.

Looking ahead to Friday's economic calendar, at 0800 CEST Germany's wholesale price index is due; at 0845 CEST, focus shifts to France's annual inflation data; at 0900 CEST, attention moves to Spanish inflation; and at 1000 CEST, Italy's trade balance, with EU industrial production data at 1100 CEST.

At 1700 CEST, a speech by ECB's Elderson is scheduled, while at 1900 CEST, Baker Hughes will release data on the total number of US drilling rigs.

No significant announcements are expected from companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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