(Alliance News) - The Mib continued higher Thursday morning, following up on the previous session's green, tracking optimism in other European bourses, as it awaits the release of the U.S. inflation figure -- specifically the CPI figure -- which could ease the Federal Reserve's tightening plans by further positing markets for a slowdown in the bullish cycle undertaken by Eccles Building.

In economic news, from China, the inflation figure was released. For the second-largest economy on the planet, China's consumer price basket rose modestly in December, official data released Thursday showed, although it remained below 2 percent, a sign that the economy is still struggling with the effects of years under "zero Covid" policy. The index rose 1.8 percent year-on-year, accelerating from November's 1.6 percent increase, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

On the Russian-Ukrainian conflict front, the clash continues unabated. At the center of the contention is the town of Soledar with an accessible back-and-forth between Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin insisting "the town is ours" and Ukrainian President Zelensky denying the rout.

Thus, the FTSE Mib marks a 0.4 percent gain to 25,646.40.

The FTSE 100 rises 0.4 percent, Paris' CAC 40 advances 0.5 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 marks a 0.3 percent gain.

Among the smaller lists last night, the Mid-Cap is up 0.2% to 41,718.37, the Small-Cap is up 0.3% to 27,074, and Italy Growth is up 0.2% to 9,504.79.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Enel moves ahead 1.5 percent, on the heels of Wednesday's close ahead 1.7 percent.

Good buys also on Telecom Italia, which advances with 1.1 percent after eve's setback with the same percentage. The stock had previously come from seven straight sessions on the bullish side.

Eni -- up 0.7 percent -- reported that the first bond offering tied to its sustainability goals will start on Jan. 16. The bonds will have a term of five years and a total value of EUR1 billion, which can be doubled in case of excess investor demand.

Bond issuance also for Banco BPM, which trades in the green by 0.8 percent. The company announced that it has successfully completed a new Green Senior Preferred issue with a maturity of four years in the amount of EUR750 million. The orders, amounting to EUR1.4 billion reached almost double the size of the issue, with good granularity, about 120 investors involved, "confirming the strong interest from investors for the Banco BPM name," reads the note released.

Ferrari - down 0.1 percent after the bell rang - saw its target price increased to EUR235 from EUR200 by Bernstein.

On the Mid-Cap, Saras is doing the heavy lifting, moving ahead 3.8% to EUR1.31 after falling 1.5% in the previous session.

Iren also ranks on the highs, marking a plus 1.9%, after eve's green with 5%.

Double target price hike for Brunello Cucinelli by Société générale and Goldman Sachs, with shares marking plus 0.5%.

On the Small-Cap, good momentum on ePrice, which marks a plus 4.9%, although it should be noted how the shares cost EUR0.0085 and the stock has an annual volatility of 126.

In contrast, Conafi gives up 2.6 percent, placing it at the bottom of the list, while Fullsix, not far behind, depreciates with 2.3 percent.

Among SMEs, early roar from Askoll EVA, which trades up 6.4 percent after it reported Wednesday evening that it has received a new order from customer Cooltra, a company that operates in sustainable two-wheeled mobility in Europe with a fleet of more than 20,000 vehicles. The value of the order is about EUR1.3 million.

Omer appreciates 3.6 percent still benefiting from having signed-as communicated Tuesday-a contract with the Alstom group to supply various interiors components for the "Linea B Réseau Express Régional" project in Paris. In detail, Omer is to fit out a total of 730 carriages, with a total contract value of about EUR25 million.

Racing Force let it be known on Wednesday that its board of directors resolved to open a paid capital increase by issuing new RFG ordinary shares, with no indication of their express par value, having the same characteristics as those outstanding on the date of issue, with regular dividend rights, corresponding to a maximum of 10 percent of RFG's share capital. The stock paerto trade down 0.6 percent.

Good buying also on Itway, which moved ahead 3.3 percent. The stock -- which has been missing the ex-dividend since 2009 -- reared its head again after two sessions closed in the red.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed in the green by 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent, and the Nasdaq gained 1.8 percent.

Among Asians, the Hang Seng is rising with 0.2 percent, the Shanghai Composite picked up 0.1 percent, while the Nikkei closed just above parity.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0752 versus USD1.0751 at Wednesday's close. By contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2146 from USD1.2129 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD82.64 per barrel from USD79.94 per barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,882.11 an ounce from USD1,880.30 an ounce last night.

On Thursday's economic calendar, in Italy, at 1110 CET, there will be auctions of BTPs with three- and seven-year maturities.

At 13300 CET, comes the German non-seasonally adjusted current account.

Overseas, at 1430 CET, it is the turn of the U.S. Continuing Unemployment Claims, Consumer Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims and Average Unemployment Claims.

Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, Unieuro's results are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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