(Alliance News) - On Thursday's open, Piazza Affari does better than IG futures forecasts and opens in green above 33,800. The major European stock markets are mixed, with London in negative territory as it awaits the release of data on Eurozone unemployment, gross domestic product and industrial production.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens in the green by 0.3 percent at 33,805.31, the Mid-Cap is up 0.1 percent at 46,515.64, the Small-Cap is in the red by 0.1 percent at 27,229.55, and Italy Growth is up 0.1 percent at 7,797.71.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is 0.1 percent in the red, Paris' CAC 40 is gaining 0.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.6 percent.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, the banking sector is doing well, leading the opening exchanges, with Banca Monte Paschi di Siena at the top up 11 percent, after Banco BPM -- up 4.2 percent -- announced Wednesday evening that it had purchased MPS shares equal to 5.0 percent of the bank's share capital as part of an accelerated bookbuilding offering procedure promoted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Regarding MPS, still no trade for Anima Holding on the Mid, flat at EUR6.17, after the company announced on Wednesday evening that it had purchased shares in the bank equal to 3.0% of its share capital, for a total consideration of EUR219 million. Since Anima already held about 1 percent of MPS's share capital, the stake will reach about 4 percent.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio closes the podium, up 2.2 percent.

BPER Banca -- up in the opening 1.6 percent -- announced Wednesday that it had successfully completed an Additional Tier 1 bond issue totaling EUR500.0 million, aimed at institutional investors. The transaction attracted orders exceeding EUR3.00 billion, more than six times the initial offer.

Well in the opening Saipem - up 1.0% - after it announced Thursday that it had been awarded an EPCI contract by TotalEnergies subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Suriname BV for the subsea development of the GranMorgu project, located in the Block 58 oil and gas field 150 kilometers off the coast of Suriname. The contract is worth USD1.9 billion.

Still profit taking on Leonardo, which gives up 0.8%.

Iveco Group, down 1.7 percent, and Nexi, down 1.3 percent, hurt at the open.

Settling at the bottom of the list, Interpump Group - down 2.1% - as it awaits its nine-month results to be released later today.

On the Mid-Cap, Carel Industries - up 4.5 percent - leads the gains.

Still in the green is De' Longhi - up 1.6 percent - after reporting Tuesday that it posted a net profit of EUR173.8 million in the first nine months, up 22 percent from EUR142.2 million in the same period of 2023. In Wednesday's session, the stock had closed up 6.3 percent.

Slight rise for Maire, up 0.1%. The company reported that its longtime partner, Yousef Al Nowais, has taken a 5.0% stake in the share capital of its subsidiary NextChem, which recently won an order in Mexico.

Digital Value rises 4.1 percent at the opening. Citadel Advisors advised that it has a short position on the stock at 0.53%.

Credem - flat at EUR10.58 - announced Wednesday that it has signed a long-term strategic partnership agreement with Worldline SA to enhance the business related to merchant contracts for digital payments and POS management.

Piovan's board - flat at EUR13.75 - approved on Wednesday its cash flow statement as of September 30, closing with a profit that came in at EUR34.9 million, up from EUR32.5 million in the first nine months of 2023.

At the bottom of the list, Ferretti gives up 2.8 percent at the opening.

On the Small-Cap, Landi Renzo is flying - up 10% - after the board set the terms of the capital increase to be offered in option to shareholders for a maximum of EUR25 million including share premium.

Also doing well is Softlab, which is in the green by 6.5 percent.

Gabetti - up 1.1 percent - reported Wednesday that it closed the first nine months of the year with a gross loss of EUR5.0 million from a loss of EUR1.6 million in the same period a year earlier.

Tessellis -- up 0.6 percent -- announced Wednesday that it has issued 10 convertible bonds to Nice & Green SA.

The bonds have a unit value of EUR100,000 and are part of the 31 EUR2.0 million tranches of the POC reserved for N&G.

Esprinet gives up 2.9 percent at the opening, after it announced Wednesday evening the approval of its results for the first nine months, reporting a net profit of EUR6.6 million, an improvement from the loss of EUR24.9 reported for the same period in 2023.

Among SMEs, best opening performance for Execus, which gained 12 percent.

Circle, in the red by 0.3 percent, reported on Wednesday that it had subscribed for a capital increase in Accudire Srl, an Innovative startup based in Verona that provides the only e-CMR platform in the MED area, and with it reached 21 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed 0.5 percent in the red, the Hang Seng gave up 2.0 percent, and the Shanghai Composite finished down 1.8 percent.

In New York, the Dow gained 0.1 percent, the Nasdaq closed 0.3 percent in the red, and the S&P 500 was up 0.1 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0546 from USD1.0574 in Wednesday's European stock close. The pound is worth USD1.2679 versus USD1.2718 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD72.31 a barrel from USD72.21 a barrel Wednesday night. Gold trades at USD2,562.35 an ounce from USD2,602.90 an ounce Wednesday night.

On Thursday's macroeconomic calendar, from the Eurozone at 1100 CET, data on unemployment, gross domestic product, and industrial production are due; at 1330 CET, the ECB will release its minutes.

In the afternoon, from the US, at 14300 CET, it is the turn of data on jobless claim and producer price index; at 1700 CET, also from the US, is the crude oil stocks data.

At 1830 CET, there is anticipation for speeches by several members of the ECB, Fed and BoE.

It closes from the US at 2230 CET, with the Fed's balance sheet.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the results of Acea, Assicurazioni Generali, Fincantieri, Intermpump Group, and Webuild, among others, are expected.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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