(Alliance News) - Major European stock markets continued to move above parity, mid-day Friday, following the release from Eurostat of Eurozone retail sales, which fell again in March on both a monthly and annual basis.

Eurozone retail sales fell 1.2 percent in March on a monthly basis after falling 0.2 percent in February. On a yearly basis, March's 3.8 percent decline shows a worsening from the previous month's 2.4 percent drop.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 1.2 percent to 26,981.40.

Among Italy's smaller lists, the Mid-Cap is up 1.2 percent to 43,291.74, the Small-Cap picks up 0.7 percent to 28,642.97, and Italy Growth is in the green by 0.2 percent to 9,156.05.

In Europe, the CAC 40 is up 0.3% as is the FTSE 100 while Frankfurt's DAX 40 advances 0.6%.

Among the day's other macros, Italy's construction sector reported still weak activity in April, although the pace of decline is less than in the previous month, as disclosed by S&P Global on Friday.

Italy's construction PMI rose to 49.0 points in April from 47.4 in March, but remained below the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion in industry activity.

On the main Piazza Affari list, Telecom Italia remains on top with 3.7 percent as it awaits a new offer from KKR.

Banking and oil stocks do well, all in the upper quarters. Better than all do UniCredit and Saipem, up 2.9 percent.

Mediobanca - in the green by 1.6% - reported Thursday that it had completed the placement of ABS Quarzo, a securitization of loans provided by Compass Banca, totaling EUR450m.

Ferrari picks up 0.7%. The prancing horse company said it reported net revenues of EUR1.42 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 20 percent from EUR1.18 billion recorded as of March 31, 2022. Net income stood at EUR297 million from EUR239 million in the same quarter of 2022, up 24 percent.

Poste Italiane advances with 2.0% after quarterly results as of March 31, 2023, which were in line with guidance for the year. Profit is EUR540 million from EUR494 million in the same period last year, up 9.4% Revenues are EUR3.0 billion from EUR2.8 billion, up 8.1%.

Moncler remains at the tail end with a 2.4% decline and is still one of the very few bearish performers. The company announced Thursday that it reported consolidated group revenues of EUR726.4 million in the first quarter of the year, up 23% from EUR589.9 million in the same period a year earlier.

In addition, SocGen raised the targe price to EUR78.00 with a 'buy' recommendation.

ERG gives up 0.2 percent. On Friday, through its subsidiary ERG Spain HoldCo SLU, it signed an agreement with IBV Solar Parks, BV -- a company belonging to the German group ib vogt GmbH, a global platform for the development of industrial solar plants -- to acquire 100 percent of Garnacha Solar SL.

In addition, Fitch Ratings confirmed for ERG a long term issuer default rating of 'BBB-' with a Stable outlook and a senior unsecured rating of 'BBB-,' as disclosed by the same rating agency.

On the Mid-Cap, Piaggio & C gains 1.6 percent after announcing Friday that it posted revenues of EUR546.8 million in the first quarter of the year, the highest value recorded in the period and up 20 percent from EUR455.8 million recorded as of March 31, 2022.

Net income amounted to EUR24.1 million, almost doubled from EUR12.7 million in the first quarter of 2022. This is the "best result ever" at this time of the year, the company explains.

Webuild advances with 2.3 percent. The Fisia Italimpianti group company won two contracts worth a total of EUR408 million, respectively, for the construction and operation of the water treatment plant at the onshore ZULUF oil complex in Saudi Arabia.

Zignago Vetro, up 1.1 percent, reported Thursday that first-quarter net income rose to EUR29.7 million from EUR12.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenues rose double digits to EUR198.0 million from EUR147.3 million.

Anima Holding trades in the green by 1.0 percent. On Thursday it reported that the group's net inflows of assets under management in April were EUR86 million positive. In contrast, net inflows for the first four months were negative EUR482 million. At the end of April, the group's total assets under management stood at more than EUR182 billion.

On the small-cap side, Banca Profilo - in the green by 0.9 percent - reported Friday that it closed the first quarter with a net profit of EUR6.2 million, up 20 percent or EUR1.0 million from last year's first-quarter result. the board of directors of

Risanamento -- in the green by 1.5 percent -- on Thursday approved the management report as of March 31, which closed with a consolidated loss of EUR7.5 million, which is not significantly different with the negative result as of March 31, 2022 of EUR6.5 million.

Value of production was EUR314 million compared to EUR296 million in the first quarter of last year.

The board of directors of Autostrade Meridionali - in green by 1.3 percent - approved the financial report as of March 31, which ended with a loss for the period of EUR556,000 compared to the first quarter 2022 profit of EUR8.9 million.

Civitanavi Systems - in the green by 0.3 percent - announced on Friday the finalization of the agreement for CNS to purchase a 30 percent minority stake in PV-Labs Ltd for USD2.5 million.

Finally, among the SMEs, Caribbean Company gives up 0.5 percent despite reporting that consolidated revenues as of March 31, 2023 stood at about EUR13.0 million, up more than 18 percent from EUR11.0 million in the first quarter of the previous year.

Like-for-like revenues are EUR12.8 million, up 17 percent from the first quarter of 2022.

Cofle trades in the green by 0.9 percent after announcing Friday that consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2023 were EUR17.1 million, up 19 percent from EUR14.3 million in the same period of 2022.

The board of directors of CrowdFundMe -- which is not yet affected by trading -- approved the draft consolidated financial statements as of December 31 and reported a loss of EUR400,000 from one for EUR46,000 last year.

Comer Industries -- in the green by 2.4 percent -- reported Thursday that it reported first quarter sales revenues of EUR345.9 million, up 11 percent from EUR311.5 million in the first quarter of 2022.

In Asia, while the stock exchange in Japan is closed for holidays, the Shanghai Composite ended in the red by 0.5 percent at 3,334.50 and the Hang Seng closed in the green by 0.4 percent at 20,049.31

In New York, the Dow Jones closed in the red 0.9 percent to 33,127.74, the Nasdaq gave up 0.5 percent to 4,061.22, and the S&P 500 finished in the red 0.7 percent to 4,061.22.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1030 versus USD1.1005 at Thursday's close. By contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2603 from USD1.2572 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD73.58 per barrel versus USD72.39 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,038.82 an ounce from USD2,049.67 an ounce at Thursday's close.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1430 CEST are nonfarm payrolls and the US unemployment rate. At 1900 CEST, it is the turn of Baker Hughes plant data, and at 2230 CEST, as usual, the COT Report.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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