(Alliance News) - On Friday's open, major European indexes met IG futures forecasts and opened in positive territory with Piazza Affari above 36,300.
"US yields and oil prices fell yesterday, while the S&P500 closed at a new all-time high," comments Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
"During his virtual speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump promised further interest rate cuts, reduced corporate taxes to 15 percent and urged OPEC to reduce oil prices."
"He also proposed tariffs against EU countries that will not shift some of their production to the U.S. and called for NATO members to allocate 5.0 percent of GDP to defense."
For Swissquote Bank's expert, the weak U.S. dollar supported the recovery of the EUR/USD pair, which broke above its 50-day moving average, with prospects for further upside towards 1.06.
"The pound also gained ground, but remains weighed down by consumer confidence at a 14-month low," Ozkardeskaya adds.
Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 0.7 percent to 36,357.41, Mid-Cap is in the green 0.6 percent to 49,293.36, Small-Cap is up 0.4 percent to 28,276.46 while Italy Growth advances 0.2 percent to 7,798.86.
London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.1 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.9 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.4 percent.
On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, Moncler does best of all at the opening and advances 4.1'%, updating during early trading its 52-week high at EUR62.64.
Campari is doing well, up 2.8 percent. Citadel Advisors raised its short position on the stock to 0.63% from 0.53% previously.
Banca Monte Paschi di Siena -- in the red 7.4 percent at the bottom of the Mib -- on Friday announced that it had approved a voluntary public exchange offer for all ordinary shares of Mediobanca -- up 3.2 percent -- for EUR13.3 billion, all in shares.
As the company explained in a note, the exchange ratio was set at 2.300 newly issued shares of MPS for each existing share of Mediobanca, resulting in an implied offer price of EUR15.992 per share and a premium of 5.03% over official prices on January 23.
Banco BPM - in the green by 1.0% - SACE and Alfasigma announced the finalization of an agreement in favor of Alfasigma for the granting of two financing lines worth a total of EUR200 million. In recent years, Alfasigma, an international pharmaceutical company founded in Italy and present in more than 100 countries around the world, has embarked on an ambitious plan to accelerate its growth and transformation and its global expansion.
Leonardo - in the red by 0.7 percent - announced a plan to form a temporary business grouping with Rheinmetall, and bring forward supplies to the Italian Army, with a view to forming a definitive joint venture with the German company, Il Sole 24 Ore wrote Friday.
A2A -- down 0.4 percent -- on Thursday announced that it had completed the placement of its inaugural EUR500 million, 10-year European Green Bond, the first in the market for this new instrument by a European corporate issuer.
The European Green Bond received orders from investors totaling EUR2.2 billion, about 4.4 times the amount offered.
Among the bearish, Saipem gives up 1.1 percent, and Tenaris retreats 1.3 percent.
On the Mid-Cap, Salvatore Ferragamo leads the early rises, in the green by 5.8 percent.
Caltagirone rises 1.1%, in its sixth session in positive territory.
Safilo Group opens with bullish candle up 2.2% to EUR1.03 per share, on its eighth bullish session and with results expected on Tuesday.
On the Small-Cap, Bialetti Industrie - up 7.0% - rises to the top, close to a deal with Nuo Capital, the investment arm of Hong Kong family office Wwic, led by Stephen Cheng.
GPI - flat at EUR10.14 per share - on Thursday announced that it had been awarded the project for the new Health Information System. As the company explained in a note, the project will involve all health districts in South Tyrol - Bolzano, Bressanone, Brunico and Merano - serving more than half a million citizens. The contract, with a total value of about EUR16 million and a duration of 48 months, includes a share of about EUR13 million reserved for GPI.
Still no exchange for Italian Exhibition Group. The company announced Thursday the appointment of Laura Vici as chairman of the Remuneration and Appointments Committee, who will also perform the functions of the Sustainability Committee.
At the bottom is Aeffe, in the red by 5.7 percent. The company reported Thursday that its board of directors approved preliminary revenue figures for fiscal year 2024, which closed with consolidated revenues of EUR251 million, down 21 percent from EUR319 million in 2023.
Among SMEs, Finanza.tech soars 11% at the open, after two bearish sessions.
Novamarine -- flat at EUR3.58 per share -- reported revenues from boat sales of EUR26.1 million in 2024 from EUR23.5 million in 2023, up 11%.
As for the order book for 2025 this is EUR27.1 million.
iVision Tech - in the red by 1.5 percent - reported Thursday that it has been granted a patent for iSee, a wearable assistive technology designed for the blind and visually impaired.
SosTravel.com - unchanged at EUR0.92 per share - reported Thursday that it had signed a commercial agreement with Veratour, a leader in the resort and tailor-made tourism sector. The agreement, part of the sales channel diversification strategy launched in 2024, will allow Veratour customers who purchase products from the GO WEST and GO EAST catalogs through a travel agency to take advantage of the Lost Luggage Concierge service, renamed by Veratour as "Baggage no problem."
ESI - flat at EUR1.74 per share - announced Thursday that it has signed a contract with a major nursery company to build a photovoltaic plant in the municipality of Pontinia, in the province of Latina. The contract has a total value of EUR680,000.
At the bottom of the alternative list, Mevim, E-Globe, and Askoll EVA leave more than 4.0 percent on the parterre.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed fractionally in the red at 39,951.06, the Shanghai Composite finished in the green by 0.7% at 3,253.88, and the Hang Seng rose 1.9% to 20,101.04.
In New York last night, the Dow advanced 0.9 percent, the Nasdaq closed in the green by 0.2 percent, and the S&P 500 finished up 0.5 percent.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0480 against USD1.0401 on Thursday in closing European equities. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2401 from USD1.2334 on Thursday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD78.33 per barrel from USD78.24 per barrel at Thursday's European stock close. Gold trades at USD2,778.76 an ounce from USD2,750.21 an ounce last night.
On Friday's economic calendar, at 1000 CET, the Eurozone manufacturing PMI will be released; at 1030 CET the same data will be released for UK.
At 1100 CET, ECB number one Christine Lagarde will give a speech instead.
From the US, at 1545 CET it will be the turn of the manufacturing and services PMIs. At 1900 CET, the Baker Hughes plant report will be released instead.
At 2130 CET, as every Friday, the COT Report will be released instead.
Among companies, no special announcements are expected.
By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com
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