(Alliance News) - European stock markets are set to open higher Friday, extending the global equity rally, as the prospect of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve next year continues to bolster market sentiment.

Investors await a slew of manufacturing and services PMI data from across Europe to try to better interpret the economic and monetary policy outlook after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England on Thursday tempered expectations of interest rate cuts for the first part of 2024 and pledged to keep them at elevated levels for as long as it takes to deal with inflation.

The FTSE Mib, thus, marks a rise of 100.00 points, after closing up 0.2 percent at 30,359.06 last night.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is picking up 8.60 points, Paris' CAC 40 is up 13.20 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is advancing 20.00 points.

Among the smaller lists last night, the Mid-Cap gained 2.6 percent to 43,677.02, the Small-Cap rose 1.7 percent to 26,935.43, and Italy Growth closed up 0.3 percent to 8,061.83.

On the main Piazza Affari list last night, boost on DiaSorin, ahead 10 percent, rearing its head after five sessions on the losing balance.

Purchases also on CNH Industrial, which closed ahead 5.6 percent, breaking the three-session bearish mini-trend. The company reported that it bought back 4.7 million of its own ordinary shares between Dec. 4 and 8, for a total value of EUR47.4 million.

Amplifon, on the other hand, rallied 3.9 percent, in its fifth bullish session.

Banca BPER, on the other hand, left 5.9 percent on the parterre, in its third bearish session.

Banca Monte dei Paschi, on the other hand, gave up 6.0% to EUR3.04 per share. Of note, Deutsche Bank raised its target price on the stock to EUR4.40 from EUR4.10 with a 'buy' recommendation.

On the MidCap, Alerion advanced 10%, following a 2% gain in the previous session.

Tinexta, on the other hand, closed more than 13 percent ahead. The company announced Thursday that it had finalized-through its subsidiary Warrant Hub Spa-the acquisition for 73.9 percent of France's ABF Group SAS. The enterprise value for 100 percent of ABF Group was estimated at EUR155 million. Therefore, assuming zero net financial debt, the consideration for the purchase of 73.9 percent of the company's capital would be EUR114.6 million, of which 85 percent or EUR97.4 million would be paid at closing and the remainder would be paid through two earn-outs, amounting to EUR5.7 million and EUR11.5 million, respectively, linked to performance in 2023 and 2024.

Brunello Cucinelli -- up 6.9 percent -- announced Wednesday that it expects to end the year with positive results, five days before debuting on the FTSE Mib of Borsa Italiana.

"After the very nice results of the nine months and the very interesting growth in October, November and the first part of December, we envision for 2023 a very good growth in revenues, between 22% and 23% at current exchange rates - over EUR1.1 billion -, raising estimates compared to previous expectations of between 20% and 22%, with a very important marginality and profit, within our idea of polite growth and healthy profit," said the founder of the eponymous brand, Brunello Cucinelli.

Industrie de Nora, on the other hand, advanced 8.6 percent, following up on the profit, albeit by 0.4 percent, of the previous session.

OVS -- up 5.7 percent -- reported Wednesday that net sales for the first nine months of its 2023-2024 fiscal year rose to EUR1.10 billion from EUR1.09 billion year-on-year. The performance of direct stores was better than that of franchise stores, which were more adversely affected by adverse weather conditions as they were mostly kids formats. Ebitda in the period ended Oct. 31 showed a slight year-on-year decline to EUR121.5 million from EUR124.1 million.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio, on the other hand, gave up 2.3 percent, in its third bearish session.

Among the few bearish performers was also Banca Farmafactoring, which gave up 3.3 percent, after eve's tentative green with 0.1 percent.

On the SmallCap, Aquafil closed ahead 9.2 percent, bringing the price to EUR3.20 after the eve's contraction with 2.3 percent.

doValue, on the other hand, took home 5.9% after two sessions ended in the red.

Biesse, on the other hand, pushed ahead 6.0 percent, with price at EUR11.94, turning upward after two sessions in the negative balance.

Among SMEs, purchases on Convergenze, which closed up 2.3% after a flat session on eve.

Friulchem, on the other hand, rallied 4.7%, after a long bearish trend and with the stock not closing in the green since the last decade of November.

Good buys also on Alfio Bardolla, bullish with 4.4 percent after Wednesday's 1.6 percent decline.

Among the bearish among many, Cofle left 2.4 percent on the parterre, the subject of profit-taking after two sessions of profit-taking in which it rallied more than 14 percent.

In contrast, Estrima contracted 6.6 percent, with new price at EUR0.85 per share.

In New York, the Dow advanced 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq closed up 0.2 percent, and the S&P 500 picked up 0.3 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei rallied 0.9 percent, the Hang Seng is picking up 2.2 percent, while the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.6 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0987 against USD1.0998 recorded in Thursday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2767 from USD1.2669 last night.

Brent crude is worth USD77.00 per barrel versus USD76.93 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,036.30 an ounce from USD2,040.15 an ounce last night.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar has Germany's manufacturing and services PMI at 0930 CET, Italy's inflation at 1000 CET along with the Eurozone's manufacturing and services PMI.

At 1100 CET, coming up the Eurozone trade balance, at 1515 CET the US industrial and manufacturing production, followed at 1545 CET the services and manufacturing PMI.

At 1900 CET it will be the turn of data from Baker Hughes, and at 2130 CET, as usual on Friday, the COT Report.

Among the companies, no special announcements are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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