(Alliance News) - Major European stock markets open without momentum on Monday, with investors remaining cautious ahead of the upcoming release of U.S. inflation data that is expected to provide information on the potential trajectory of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

As a result, the FTSE Mib opens in the fractional red at 30,434.38, the Mid-Cap is just above par at 43,792.83, the Small-Cap is in the green by 0.2 percent at 27,900.23, and Italy Growth advances 0.1 percent to 8,299.04.

Paris' CAC 40 gives up 0.2 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 is in fractional green, and London's FTSE 100 is in the red by 0.3 percent.

In macroeconomic news, it is reported that factory orders in Germany rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in November, reversing the trend from the previous month's revised 3.8 percent decline, but falling short of market forecasts of 1.0 percent growth. The data were released Monday by the Federal Statistical Office.

On the bluechip list, Banca Mediolanum opens up 0.7 percent. The bank reported Monday that it reported total net inflows of EUR1.22 billion in December.

Net inflows in assets under management stood at EUR655 million in December.

Best of all does Amplifon, which advances 2.4 percent followed by Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which rises 1.5 percent followed by the other banking stocks: Fineco gains 0.9 percent, Banca Generali 0.8 percent and UniCredit 0.7 percent as does Banco BPM.

At the bottom, however, are oils, with Eni giving up 1.8%, Saipem 1.4% and Tenaris, which loses 0.6%.

Also among the bearers are Telecom Italia and Stellantis, down 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Anima Holding opens up 1.3 percent after announcing Monday that the group's net inflows of assets under management in December--excluding class I insurance proxies--were positive by EUR277 million, bringing the 2024 total to a negative EUR171 million.

At year-end, total assets under management by the Anima group stood at EUR191.5 billion.

At the top is Philogen, which opens up 3.3 percent followed by Caltagirone, up 2.1 percent.

On the other side of the list, Pharmanutra is in the red by 1.6 percent while Ariston Holding gives up 1.0 percent.

Among small-cap companies, algoWatt advances 11 percent. It disclosed on Friday, in an update to its December 31 announcement, that the Court of Milan upheld the company's appeal for admission to the "conditional" arrangement procedure.

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi Di Bologna rises 0.7 percent after reporting that it definitely surpassed its pre-pandemic traffic levels in 2023 and recorded the best year in its history, reaching close to 10 million passengers. In detail, the airport recorded nearly 10 million passengers, representing a growth of 17 percent over 2022 and 6.0 percent over 2019. After a still "lukewarm" start to the year, with numbers up on 2022 but still lower than the same period in 2019, the first reversal of the trend has been recorded since May, with the progressive passenger figure in the positive field by 0.5 percent even compared to the last year without Covid.

Among Milan-listed SMEs, Comal opens up 1.7 percent after announcing Monday that it has been awarded the "Next Appennino | Measure B1.2 - B3.3" tender for the construction of an industrial plant for the production of innovative and high-efficiency photovoltaic modules in L'Aquila Province.

The total investment amounts to EUR16.1 million, of which EUR6.9 million in subsidized financing, EUR4.9 million in plant account contribution, EUR200,000 in direct contributions and EUR4.1 million in bank financing, requested directly by Comal through an already identified financial partner.

Directa SIM - in the green by 2.6 percent - reported that it closed 2023 with 78,132 active accounts as of Dec. 31, up about 27 percent, while total client assets reached nearly EUR4.7 billion, marking an increase of about 35 percent.

With more than 16,000 new customers in twelve months, the company marked the largest increase in its history, coming close to 80,000 total.

Clabo is still not trading. On Friday it announced that it had signed a EUR3.3 million loan agreement with Banca Progetto Spa.

The loan has a term of 96 months and provides for 12 months of preamortization during which only interest payments will be made. The transaction is backed by a guarantee issued by SACE under the "Supportitalia" program.

Vantea SMART gives up 0.8 percent after announcing Friday that it has been admitted to Abruzzo regional funding for the WTTM project. The company will receive a grant of EUR560,000 for a project whose total amount is EUR800,000. The WTTM - Welcome To The Machine project involves the design and testing of a cybersecurity framework to be applied to companies operating in the automotive world.

In Asia, the Nikkei did not trade on the Senior Citizens' Day as the Hang Seng closed 1.9 percent in the red at 16,179.00 and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.4 percent to 2,887.54.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed in the green 0.1 percent to 37,466.11, the S&P finished up 0.2 percent to 4,697.24, and the Nasdaq closed in the green 0.1 percent to 14,524.07.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0932 against USD1.0968 recorded in Friday's European equities close while the pound was worth USD1.2698 from USD1.2741 on Friday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD78.06 per barrel versus USD78.88 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,029.40 an ounce from USD2,049.11 an ounce on Friday night.

On Monday's macroeconomic calendar, the Sentix index of Eurozone investor confidence will be released at 1030 CET.

Half an hour later it is the turn of Eurozone consumer confidence. Also from the single currency area, at 1100 CET the retail sales figure will be released along with the unemployment rate.

In the afternoon, from the States, an auction of three- and six-month Treasury bonds is scheduled at 1730 CET.

Among companies listed on Piazza Affari, the results of Brunello Cucinelli and CleanBnB will come in.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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