Europeans up; Mib at 26,700, oil well

(Alliance News) - European stock markets on Monday confirmed expectations and opened in positive territory on a calm day on the macroeconomic front, after news came overnight on the agreement reached between US President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling, while in Turkey outgoing President Erdogan was elected to a new term.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green 0.2 percent at 26,768.15, the Mid-Cap is down 0.2 percent at 42,279.34, the Small-Cap is in fractional green at 27,680.48, and Italy Growth is in the green 0.2 percent at 9,121.73.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.4 percent, Frankfurt's DAX is up 0.5 percent, and London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.7 percent.

On the main index in Piazza Affari, Banca Monte dei Paschi takes the top spot and rises 2.1%, followed by Tenaris up 1.0%, A2A in the green by 0.9% as is Stellantis.

Also doing well is Stellantis -- up 2.1% -- which announced Thursday that Stellantis Ventures, the company's venture capital fund, has invested in Lyten to accelerate the commercialization of Lyten's 3D Graphene applications for the mobility sector, including the LytCell lithium-sulfur battery for EVs, lightweight composite materials, and new in-vehicle sensing systems.

Lyten, a company pioneering the use of three-dimensional graphene, will leverage the unique tunability of this material to improve vehicle performance and customer experience while promoting the decarbonization of the transportation sector.

Saipem is also in the green, up 0.3 percent. Eni also does well, up 0.6 percent, while ERG gives up 0.1 percent.

UniCredit--up 0.2%--reported Friday that it has expanded its payments partnership with Mastercard, which enables the former to provide all cardholders with a first-rate offering, with a simplified product proposition, a streamlined digital experience with a full suite of in-app solutions, and the development of a dedicated approach to innovation, increasing payment choice for customers across multiple payment solutions.

Among the bearish performers, Telecom Italia fared worse, giving up 0.8 percent at the open. The company had announced Friday that Elio Schiavo has been appointed chairman of the board of Olivetti, a benefit company wholly owned by the group and active in the field of Internet of Things.

Also going down is Prysmian -- in the red by 0.5 percent -- which announced Friday that Massimo Battaini, the company's current director and chief operating officer, is the nominee to become the group's chief executive officer.

Battaini will be introduced at the shareholders' meeting that will be called to approve the 2023 budget, then next year. The current CEO, Valerio Battista, has expressed his unwillingness to continue in the role for the 2024-2027 period.

On the cadet segment, the board of directors of Autogrill - up 0.1 percent - on Thursday approved the signing, as borrower, of an intercompany, revolving, multi-currency, cd downstream loan agreement of up to EUR700 million with Dufry Financial Services, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Autogrill's controlling shareholder Dufry.

Maire - up 1.8 percent and leading the list - announced Thursday that it had signed a new EUR40 million loan agreement with BPER Corporate & Investment Banking, assisted for 80 percent of the amount by a guarantee granted by SACE Spa, in order to further strengthen the group's financial structure.

OVS - in the red by 1.4 percent - announced that it purchased 201,669 ordinary shares between May 18 and May 24, 2023. The shares were purchased at an average unit price of EUR2.6027 for a total consideration of EUR524,876.13.

Oil stocks also do well among midcaps with Saras rising 0.9 percent.

doValue gives up 0.6 percent. On the stock it is mentioned that on Wednesday Citadel Advisors cut its short to 0.48% from 0.55%.

On Small-Cap, Tesmec - down 0.7 percent - reported Friday that Cerved Rating Agency, an Italian agency specializing in assessing the creditworthiness of non-financial companies, confirmed the company? "s "B1.2" solicited rating.

Trevi Finanziaria Industriale--in the red by 1.4 percent--reported Thursday that its Trevi and Soilmec divisions were awarded contracts and orders worth a total of EUR216.2 million in the first four months of 2023. Thanks to these acquisitions, the group's order book as of April 2023 stands at EUR591 million.

Mondo TV--down 0.2 percent--reported Thursday that it has signed a new license with Sia All Media Latvia, a leading broadcaster operating in the Baltics, for the television broadcast of Agent 203 and Monster Loving Maniacs.

The series were co-produced by Mondo Tv with Toon2Tango, and the license includes the possibility of broadcasting the series for a period of three years.

Among SMEs, Casta Diva Group rises 3.6 percent, after announcing Monday that it had approved its draft financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2022, in which revenues stood at EUR83.6 million, up 210 percent from EUR26.9 million in the same period last year.

Value of production stood at EUR83.9 million, up 182% from EUR29.7 million.

Profit is EUR1.8 million from EUR429,211 in 2021.

Imvest - up 2.6 percent - announced that it has approved the draft financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, having reported sales revenue of EUR4.0 million from EUR2.8 million in the same period in 2021.

Value of production is EUR4.6 million from EUR2.6 million in the same period of the previous year.

Loss amounts to EUR1.2 million from one of EUR5.3 million in 2021.

Neosperience - down 3.3 percent - reports that a reserved capital increase has been approved, excluding option rights and aimed at completing the acquisition of Rhei Srl, already 51 percent owned.

The value of 100 percent of Rhei has been quantified at EUR6.3 million and the minimum value of 49 percent thus amounts to approximately EUR3.09 million.

In New York on Friday, the Dow closed in the green 1.0 percent to 33,093.34, the Nasdaq rose 2.2 percent to 12,975.69 while the S&P 500 finished up 1.3 percent to 4,205.45.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 1.1 percent, the Hang Seng down 0.8 percent while the Shanghai Composite was in the green by 1.2 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0730 against USD1.0703 at Friday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2344 from USD1.2330 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.42 per barrel versus USD76.56 per barrel Friday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,962.50 an ounce from USD1,941.55 an ounce Friday night.

On Monday's macroeconomic calendar, Italy's non-EU trade balance is due at 1000 CEST.

Among companies listed in Piazza Affari, the results of Allcore, Italia Independent Group, Vantea SMART and Zucchi are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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