Indices down; Stellantis at bottom on Mib.

(Alliance News) - At mid-day on Thursday, the major Euoropean indexes continue to follow a bearish course, with the Mib approaching the 27,800-point mark. Weighing down is the drop in oil, which weighs down stocks in morning trade, while continued tensions in the Middle East weigh on investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, bond yields continued to rise and traders await Fed Chairman Powell's comments later in the day for further clues on the future of monetary policy.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the red by 0.9 percent to 27,882.69, the Mid-Cap is up 0.6 percent to 38,640.04, the Small-Cap is in the red by 0.4 percent to 24,959.18, and Italy Growth is in the red by 0.5 percent to 7,901.67.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.6 percent, London's FTSE 100 gives up 0.7 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 loses 0.2 percent.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Nexi, after closing ahead of everyone with a 13 percent gain following rumors from the Bloomberg agency about a possible interest in the Italian company by private equity fund CVC capital, remains among the few bullish performers, in the green by 0.6 percent.

Doing better is Recordati, which rises 2.4 percent after announcing Monday the appointment of Milan Zdravkovic as Executive Vice President of Research & Development.

Among the few stocks in the green, CNH Industrial rises 0.2 percent and Moncler remains in the highs with 1.1 percent along with ERG, up 1.3 percent.

Stellantis, on the other hand, remains at the bottom and gives up 3.3 percent, along with the industrial and oil sector-with Leonardo, Saipem, Tenaris, Iveco Group, and Pirelli & C all flexing between 3.0 and 1.8 percent. Eni also hurt, in the red by 1.3%.

Bankers also suffer, with Intesa Sanpaolo in the red by 0.7 percent, UniCredit down 1.1 percent while BPER Banca and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena give up 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

Italgas retreats 0.6 percent after two bullish sessions. The company announced Monday that it had completed the acquisition from Veolia Environnement Group of the business unit to which the concessions held in Italy in the water sector belong. For the purchase, the company will be able to pay the Veolia group a total of up to EUR115 million -- in terms of equity value --, partly contingent on the achievement of certain targets of the operating companies.

On the Mid-Cap, at the top is Technogym, which rises 4.5 percent to EUR7.38 per share. Of note, Berenberg initiated a recommendation on the stock with 'buy' and target price at EUR10.00.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio gives up 0.7 percent. On Tuesday it reported that it successfully placed a new covered bond issue with institutional investors for a benchmark amount of EUR500 million and 5-year term. The placement was made as part of the EUR5 billion covered bond program, backed entirely by residential mortgages.

Credito Emiliano -- in the red by 0.6 percent -- reported Monday that rating agency Fitch confirmed the long-term issuer default rating at 'BBB', with stable outlook, and the Viability Rating at 'bbb'.

As at the opening, the fashion sector continues to perform well, with Tod's gaining 1.8 percent and Brunello Cucinelli -- which today awaits the release of its first nine-month results -- in the green by 1.1 percent.

Salvatore Ferragamo rises 0.8 percent after announcing that it has been admitted to the collaborative compliance regime.

Admission to the regime, which takes effect as early as the 2022 tax period, was preceded by the Internal Revenue Service's verification of the adequacy of the tax governance adopted by the company and the internal control system for detecting, measuring, managing and controlling tax risk, called the Tax Control Framework.

On the Small-Cap, Softlab does best of all and rises 4.3 percent, followed by Neodecortech, which advances 2.0 percent.

Aeffe--up 1.0%--reported Monday that it has appointed Davide Renne as Moschino's new creative director.

Itway gives up 0.9% after announcing Monday that it has signed a strategic partnership with One Identity in identity governance.

One Identity's products are needed to manage identities and access to corporate resources. One Identity, part of the Quest Software Group, an IT security company based in California, USA, designs and develops identity governance, access management and identity-as-a-service software solutions that help organizations counter security threats.

The Itway Group expects revenues of about EUR4 million in the next two years by operating in the banking and insurance, healthcare, energy, education and public administration sectors.

Among SMEs, eVISO rises 4.2 percent Thursday after reporting that contracts to supply energy to reseller customers for about 1,000 GWh have been signed to date, compared with the 700 GWh reported as of December 2022, for estimated annual revenues of about EUR222 million.

Racing Force--slumping 1.4 percent--reported Thursday consolidated sales figures for the first nine months of the year in which revenues amounted to EUR49.8 million, up 9.6 percent from EUR45.5 million in the same period last year.

Third-quarter consolidated revenues were EUR12.6 million, up 6.1 percent from EUR11.9 million in the third quarter of 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei gave up 1.9 percent to 31,430.62, the Hang Seng closed 2.9 percent in the red to 17,254.00, and the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.7 percent to 3,005.39.

In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed 1.0% in the red at 34,575.533,665.08, the S&P finished down 1.3% at 4,314.60, and the Nasdaq closed 1.6% in the red at 13,314.30.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0539 against USD1.0530 recorded in Wednesday's European equities close, while the pound was worth USD1.2095 from USD1.2145 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD89.69 per barrel from USD91.11 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,949.01 an ounce from USD1,944.55 an ounce on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday afternoon's macroeconomic calendar from the U.S., at 1430 CEST, unemployment benefit claims are due while, at 1600 CEST, the existing home sales report will arrive. At 1800 CEST, eyes on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech, while another speech by FOMC member Harker will close the day.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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