Wind in the sails on the Mib; MPS at an annual high

(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari pushes on again in the third session of the week, with the Mib above the 30,200-point mark, at highs since 2008, as traders try to gauge the outlook for monetary policy and await further clues, including U.S. labor market data.

The day's data included how Eurozone retail sales rose again on a monthly basis and slowed the pace of year-on-year decline in October, as released by Eurostat on Wednesday. These, advanced 0.1 percent from the previous month, after falling 0.1 percent in September. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales fell 1.2 percent after falling 2.9 percent in the previous month.

At the same time, bond yields remain near multi-month lows amid expectations that major central banks may begin cutting interest rates starting next year.

The FTSE Mib is up 0.5 percent to 30,229.57, the Mid-Cap is up 0.2 percent to 42,158.99, the Small-Cap gained 0.3 percent to 26,382.34, and Italy Growth is up fractionally to 8,006.33.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.4 percent, while Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.3 percent as is Frankfurt's DAX 40.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Banca Monte dei Paschi is driving up the 3.3 percent bar, with nuvo price at EUR3.43 and thus updating its 52-week high. Of note, Psquared Asset Management has cut its short to 0.36% from the previous 0.70%.

Good buying also on Mediobanca, with the balance showing a plus 2.5 percent after two sessions among the bearish.

The 'buy' side also prevails on DiaSorin, which moves ahead by 1.9 percent, following the green of the eve closed with a plus 2.4 percent.

Enel on the other hand is giving up 0.3 percent on which came the downgrade by S&P Global Ratings, which maintained Enel Spa's short-term rating at 'A-2' and revised the long-term rating to 'BBB' from the previous level of 'BBB+'. The outlook is Stable. The agency said the change in Enel's rating mainly reflects the level of the group's net financial debt, which peaked in 2022.

At the bottom, Hera depreciates 0.6 percent, with new price at EUR2.88 after Tuesday's 0.6 percent gain.

On the mid-cap, Alerion takes the lead, advancing 3.4 percent after 0.6 percent in the previous session. The company, which regularly continues with its buyback plan, most recently bought back - from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 - treasury shares worth a total of about EUR85,000.

Pharmanutra, on the other hand, advances 2.2 percent, following up on its 6.5 percent gain in the previous session.

Maire Tecnimont-slightly above par at EUR4.60-after announcing Wednesday that its subsidiary Nextchem, through its subsidiary MyRechemical, which leads the Waste-to-Chemicals segment, has been selected by DG Fuels Louisiana to provide the Process Design Package for a SAF plant currently under development in St. James Parish, Louisiana, USA.

The plant, expected to be operational in 2028, will produce 350,000 tons per year of SAF derived from agricultural waste and refuse. MyRechemical has been selected as the technology licensor of the gasification and gas treatment units capable of processing 1,000,000 tons per year of sugarcane waste and the extraction residue from its processing. The process is the first step in the production of SAF.

Industrie de Nora, on the other hand, depreciates 2.4 percent, after the bullish candle on the eve with 2.0 percent.

On the Small-Cap, SIT does best of all, marking a plus 5.9%, leading the weekly to mark a 42% gain.

Sogefi also has its say, putting in 4.9% at EUR1.76 and preemptively updating its 52-week high at EUR1.79.

Unieuro drops 1.3 percent to EUR10.00 per share, after rising more than 11 percent last night. The company announced Monday that it had closed its acquisition of Covercare, a leading player in Italy in the cell phone repair services market as well as in air conditioner and boiler installation.

Itway gives up 0.1 percent after yesterday's rise and after announcing Tuesday that subsidiary 4Science has signed a binding agreement to acquire a 60 percent stake in Seacom, an ICT player with more than 20 years of experience in open source innovation with significant expertise in Big Data architecture. Concurrent with the execution of the transaction is the expected subscription of a paid capital increase for a total amount of EUR450,000.

Netweek, on the other hand, gives up 5.0 percent, following a 2.2 percent red in the previous session.

Among SMEs, boost on Allacore, which moves ahead 6.3%. High trading volume is recorded on the stock, with more than 27,400 pieces changed hands compared to an atre-month daily average of about 7,200.

Also doing well is Bifire, which darts ahead 5.4 percent on the heels of the previous session's 9.5 percent gain.

Saccheria F.lli Franceschetti--up 6.5 percent after yesterday's gain of more than 15 percent--reported that the board has decided to call a shareholders' meeting to which it will submit the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.043 per share. If approved, the payment will take place on January 17, two days after the ex date and one day after the record date. The dividend yield is 4.1 percent from Monday's last closing share price.

In addition, the board will ask shareholders for approval to initiate a buyback program of up to 177,010 shares, for which it may invest no more than EUR400,000.

In New York at Tuesday's close, the Dow Jones fell 0.2 percent to 36,124.56, the S&P lost 0.1 percent to 4,567.18 while the Nasdaq rose 0.3 percent to 14,229.91.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0792 against USD1.0788 recorded at Tuesday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2603 from USD1.2595 last night.

Brent crude is worth USD76.87 per barrel versus USD77.43 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,022.78 an ounce from USD2,013.59 an ounce last night.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar includes from the US, at 1300 CET, mortgage reports, followed at 1430 CET by ADP data and the trade balance.

At 1630 CET, there will be the release of crude oil stocks, EIA report and and Cushing's inventory.

At 1630 CET, from Canada, eyes on the communication from the Bank of Canada on the main interest rate.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News senior reporter

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