(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari trades bullish just below the 28,800 level Thursday at mid-session, although a general mood of caution prevails, with trading rooms focusing on the quarterly and semiannual reports that will soon take center stage, in addition to the usual monetary policy decisions from both the Fed and ECB due next week.

The FTSE Mib is up 0.3 percent to 28,793.04, the Mid-Cap is down 0.2 percent to 42,391.48, the Small-Cap is in the green 0.2 percent to 26,798.84, and Italy Growth is in the red 0.1 percent to 9,086.79.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.6 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.3 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is advancing 0.2 percent.

On the blue chip list, purchases on Tenaris, which moves ahead 1.9% with new price at EUR14.69 positioning itself for the fourth session to close on the bullish side.

Saipem, on the other hand, marks a plus 1.5 percent, heading for its third bullish session.

BPER Bank, on the other hand, is advancing 1.5 percent, with new price at EUR2.98. UBS has raised its target price on the stock to EUR5.00 from EUR3.70.

Fincantieri and Leonardo--up 1.8 percent and down 0.2 percent, respectively--reported that Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, the joint venture owned 51 percent by the former and 49 percent by the latter, has signed with the Naval Armaments Directorate of the General Secretariat of Defense the framework agreement for maintenance in operational condition for the aircraft carrier Cavour and the Navy's Horizon-class destroyers Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio. The agreement has a maximum total value of EUR190 million and will run out at the end of 2028. In the coming days, the first implementation contract is expected to be signed between prime contractor OSN and Navarm, covering the first two years of service.

In the red is STMicroelectronics, which is giving up 1.0 percent, after 0.3 percent green on eve.

Also in the rear for Ferrari, which equally gives up 1.0%, in position for its fourth bearish session.

On the Mid-Cap, GVS advances with 4.1%, on the heels of the previous two bullish sessions.

High quarters also for Salcef, which raises the bar with a plus 1.3%, with price at EUR22.85 per share. The stock - on the MarketScreener platform with the average of three analysts - has an average target price of EUR26.26, making it under-priced by more than 16 percent.

Cementir Holding, on the other hand, picks up 1.3 percent, heading for the third session to end on a positive balance.

Mondadori Editore closes the list down 1.6 percent, heading toward the bearish quaternary.

Anima Holding, on the other hand, trades below par, after finalizing the closing for the acquisition of an 80 percent stake in Castello SGR, a company active in the promotion and management of alternative investment products mainly real estate based in Milan. The consideration, fully paid in cash, is EUR60 million, plus about EUR1.7 million for the estimated net financial position.

Safilo Group gives up 0.3 percent. The company and Juicy Couture announced the renewal, through Dec. 31, 2027, of their global licensing agreement for the design, manufacture, and distribution of Juicy Couture-branded women's eyewear and sunglasses and girls' eyewear.

On the SmallCap, strength on doValue, which garners 5.4 percent. The company announced Thursday the achievement of significant milestones in several key projects developed by its innovation lab and the launch of the next phase of the doTransformation program, a major initiative unveiled at the last Capital Market Day 2022. "The promise of AI has always been clear to us at doValue, and we are now proud to communicate the concrete results this technology is delivering across our businesses, with tangible effects on our KPIs and financials," said George Kalogeropoulos, group COO.

Restart, on the other hand, stretches 2.7 percent, bringing assets on the weekly frame over 14 percent.

d'Amico marks 2.5 percent assets, with the company proceeding steadily with its buyback plan. Most recently, at the beginning of the week, it announced that it had purchased its own ordinary shares for a total value of approximately EUR585,000.

On a negative note, Pierrel gives up 8.4 percent to EUR1.5390. There is high trading volume on the stock, with more than 283,000 changed hands compared to a three-month daily average of just under 25,000.

SS Lazio drops 1.4 percent, however, after selling Sergej Milinkovic Savic outright to Saudi club Al Hilal SFC. The Capitolini are to receive a fixed consideration of EUR40 million, payable in two installments.

Among SMEs, boost on Datrix, which puts a plus 5.9 percent, after announcing Thursday that subsidiary FinScience is now bringing its thematic data to the Nasdaq Data Link platform.

Digital Magics, on the other hand, advances 3.7 percent. The stock-which has been missing the ex-dividend since 2019-closed down 2.0 percent in the eve. Together with Tinexta - up 0.2% in the letter - they announced Wednesday that they have initiated a joint venture, with equal shares, aimed at making investments targeting high-potential digital startups.

Prisms, on the other hand, rises 4.3 percent after deciding to launch a EUR7.5 million convertible bond issue. The POC will be divided into 663 bonds of EUR10,000 each, to be offered to Medigest, Area 62 and Tendercapital Alternative Funds. The term will be five years and no coupon payments are expected.

Energy rises 0.4 percent after reporting that it ended the first half of the year with revenues of EUR39 million, down from EUR53.3 million in the same period last year. Order backlog dropped to EUR6.5 million from EUR43.8 million, which was composed, however, of 70 percent of 2021 backlog outstanding due to material shortages. Ebitda margin is 20 percent, in line with corporate expectations and what was expected at IPO.

"Energy's management believes it can achieve in fiscal year 2023 an amount of revenues close to what was achieved in the previous year and an Ebitda margin of 20 percent. In addition, thanks to the opening of grid services markets to storage systems, strong growth in 2024 in the large storage systems market is expected by leading strategic research firms on the sector; therefore, Energy confirms the 2024 targets communicated to the market at the IPO, with 2022 -2024 revenue CAGR of 30 percent and Ebitda margin of 20 percent," the company explained.

In New York, the Dow Jones closed Wednesday down 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq finished just above par, and the S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1212 versus USD1.1194 in Wednesday's European stock close while the pound was worth USD1.2913 from USD1.2888 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD79.40 per barrel versus USD80.03 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,981.69 an ounce from USD1,974.04 an ounce last night.

On Thursday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1430 CEST, from the US will come initial claims for unemployment benefits while at 1600 CEST space is given to existing home sales. At 1730 CEST, an auction of four- and eight-week Treasury bonds is scheduled.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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