Mib nears 29,000; Monte Paschi on top

(Alliance News) - On Wednesday, major European stock markets confirm expectations and all open in positive territory, with the London Stock Exchange doing better than all for the second consecutive day in opening followed by Piazza Affari.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 0.4 percent to 28,993.11, the Mid-Cap rises 0.6 percent to 42,310.62, the Small-Cap gains 0.2 percent to 27,322.65, and Italy Growth rises 0.2 percent to 8,914.52.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.3 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 rises 0.2 percent while London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.5 percent.

In macroeconomic news, the EU car market continued its growth trajectory, rising 15 percent for the 12th consecutive month. New car registrations reached 851,156 units. Most markets posted solid growth, including the four largest: France by 20 percent, Germany by 18 percent, Spain by 11 percent and Italy by 8.7 percent.

In Germany, import prices contracted 13.2 percent year-on-year in July, worse than market expectations of a 12.9 percent decline and the previous month's 11 percent drop. This was the steepest decline since January 1987.

From Spain, consumer prices increased in August compared to the previous month. In detail, the consumer price index in August increased by 0.5 percent compared to July. This compares with July's monthly increase of 0.2 percent and is slightly higher than the FXStreet market consensus of 0.4 percent. On a year-on-year basis, consumer inflation reached 2.6 percent in August, in line with expectations, accelerating slightly from 2.3 percent in the previous month.

Back in Milan, on the blue chip list, Monte dei Paschi di Siena does best of all, rising 3.5 percent. The company has concluded the placement of an unsecured senior preferred bond issue with a maturity of 4 years - repayable in advance after 3 years - aimed at institutional investors, in the amount of EUR500 million, in line with the objectives of the 2023 funding plan and in compliance with MREL targets.

The deal raised orders exceeding EUR700 million from more than 90 investors both Italian and international.

Saipem follows, gaining 1.3 percent. The company announced Tuesday that it had received formal notification of the completion of the Golfinho transaction between BW Energy and Petrobras, under which BW Energy acquired 100 percent of the exploitation rights to the Golfinho field.

Under the terms of the agreement signed at the end of June, the consideration BW Energy will pay Saipem for the sale of the FPSO is USD73 million, of which USD38 million upon completion of the Golfinho transaction and USD35 million in 18 monthly installments following the transfer of the unit.

Banks do well, with BPM, BPER Banca and Banca Mediolanum trading in the black around 1.0%.

Telecom Italia continues to gain, opening with a 0.3% gain. On Monday evening, the Italian government gave the go-ahead for a stake of up to EUR2.2 billion in Telecom Italia's fixed-line network through a joint bid with U.S. investment fund KKR.

Down went the technology sector, with STMicroelectronics sitting on the bottom giving up 0.7 percent, and energy with A2A leaving 0.5 percent on the parterre, Italgas giving up 0.3 percent and Enel losing 0.1 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, Saras continues the bullish trend and rises 1.2%. On the stock, WorldQuant revised its short position to 0.69% from 0.73% previously. Marshall Wace, meanwhile, cut its short to 1.82% from 1.99% previously.

The board of Brunello Cucinelli -- in the green by 5.8 percent -- on Tuesday approved the half-year financial report, which achieves a net profit of EUR66.7 million, up 32 percent from EUR50.6 million as of June 30, 2022, with a margin of 12.3 percent compared to 12.2 percent last year.

Revenues amounted to EUR543.9 million, up 31% at current exchange rates compared to June 30, 2022, in line with preliminary figures released last July 13.

In addition, the company announced the launch of a new buyback. In this regard, a maximum of 90,000 Brunello Cucinelli ordinary shares with no par value, representing about 0.1 percent of the company's share capital, may be purchased.

These results boost the fashion sector: with Salvatore Ferragamo gaining 0.4 percent as Tod's and Safilo picking up 1.1 percent.

On the Small-Cap, Olidata gives up 2.5 percent, after rallying more than 12 percent at Tuesday's close. The company announced Monday that it had been awarded a 30% RTI contract worth more than EUR30 million. The company explained that the framework agreement covers the awarding related to the supply, maintenance and management of upgrades to Sogei's Data Connectivity Switches for the next 36 months.

Valsoia - down 1.3 percent - announced Tuesday that it has expanded its product portfolio by launching a chicken-flavored burger, on sale in large-scale retail and on the horeca channel.

Italian Exhibition Group--declining 3.8 percent, after a profit of more than 10 percent at the close Tuesday--reported Tuesday that it posted a profit of EUR10.6 million in the first half of the year, an improvement from a loss of EUR5.6 million in the same period last year. Revenues amounted to EUR119.2 million up from EUR72.7 million in the first half of 2022.

Leading the list is ePrice, up 3.5 percent, followed by Alkemy, in the green by 2.6 percent.

Among SMEs, Consob disclosed on Wednesday, as a result of its supervisory activities, the evolution of the shareholding structure of Visibilia Editore -- up 28 percent -- and the internal dealing operations carried out by Luca Giuseppe Reale Ruffino, chairman and CEO of Visibilia Editore itself and SIF Italia -- up 2.6 percent -- both listed on Euronext Growth Milan, until his death on Aug. 5.

"In the absence of the party required to make the necessary disclosures, Consob has decided to make available some of the information acquired in the course of its supervisory action," the Italian markets regulator explained.

As of July 17, Ruffino held 1.7 million shares in Visibilia, which, when added to the 4.0 million shares held by SIF Italia, represent 71.3 percent of Visibilia Editore's share capital.

Estrima--down 6.9 percent--reported that the board of directors has resolved to assign CEO Matteo Maestri to manage and monitor the preparation of a new business plan to be presented by September 27, the date of approval of the 2023 half-year report.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.3 percent at 32,333.46, the Shanghai Composite finished fractionally in the green at 3,137.14, and the Hang Seng gave up 0.1 percent to 18,473.12.

In New York Tuesday evening, the Dow Jones closed up 0.9 percent to 34,852.67, the Nasdaq gained 1.7 percent to 13,943.76 and the S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent to 4,497.63.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0869 versus USD1.0854 in Tuesday's closing European equities while the pound was instead worth USD1.2639 from USD1.2624 Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.28 per barrel versus USD84.69 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,963.45 an ounce from USD1,937.10 an ounce Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1000 CEST, will come Italy's consumer confidence and industrial sales while, at 1100 CEST, the focus will be on Eurozone sentiment on services, consumers and businesses.

At 1110 CEST, there will be an auction of five- and 10-year BTPs.

From the US, at 1300, eyes on the 30-year mortgage rate and, at 1430 CEST, on Gross Domestic Product. At 1630 CEST, space on crude oil stocks, Cushing inventory and the EIA report.

On the corporate calendar in the Piazza Affari, no major events are scheduled.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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