(Alliance News) - At mid-day on Friday, Milan surpassed 29,000 and continued a bullish trend along with other major European stock markets.

Istat on Friday morning reported that annual inflation for August in Italy cooled to 5.4 percent from an initial estimate of 5.5 percent, and compared to 5.9 percent in July.

Thus, the FTSE Mib rises with 0.7 percent to 29,084.36, the Mid-Cap is in the green 0.2 percent to 41,224.76, the Small-Cap is in fractional red at 26,720.00 while Italy Growth rises with 0.2 percent to 8,673.35.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 rises with 1.6 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 is in the green by 1.0 percent and London's FTSE 100 advances with 0.6 percent.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Recordati does best of all with a plus 2.7 percent.

It is followed by Banco BPM and BPER Banca, which advance 2.0%, while Intesa Sanpaolo picks up 1.3%.

On the other side of the list, Amplifon gives up 1.1 percent, ERG is in the red by 0.4 percent while Stellantis recovers and after a red opening is up 1.1 percent.

Unipol - in the green by 0.7 percent - and UnipolSai - up by 0.3 percent - let it be known on Friday that they bought - on Sept. 11, 12 and 13 - a total of 585,000 Unipol shares, totaling EUR3.0 million.

Iveco Group, on the other hand, lost 0.3 percent. On Wednesday it announced that Anna Tanganelli - formerly of Iren - will assume the role of chief financial officer as of Dec. 1, succeeding Francesco Tanzi, who served as CFO during Iveco Group's spin-off and its first year and a half as an independent company.

On Moncler, up 1.7 percent, SocGen cut its target price to EUR69.00 from EUR78.00 with a 'buy' recommendation.

On the Mid-Cap, Cembre holds out on the top step of the podium, up 3.5 percent, after reporting Tuesday a half-year profit of EUR23.9 million, up 31 percent from EUR18.2 million in the same period last year.

SogGen cut its target price on Tod's -- which gives up 0.1 percent -- to EUR42.00 from EUR46.00 with a 'hold' recommendation.

Movements also on Salvatore Ferragamo, in the red by 0.3 percent. On the stock SocGen cut its target price to EUR10.00 from EUR11.00 with 'sell' recommendation.

Webuild - in the red by 0.2 percent - on Thursday reported growth in Australia, the group's first non-domestic market, with EUR7.3 billion worth of orders won and being finalized in the country in the first eight months of 2023, bringing the group's work portfolio in Australia to EUR13.3 billion.

On this basis, Webuild reaches the figure of EUR21 billion worth of orders acquired and being finalized in the first eight months of 2023, pushing the group's work portfolio to a potential of more than EUR68 billion.

Sesa is up 2.2 percent. It reported Thursday that in the first quarter ended July 31 it reported adjusted group net income of EUR26.5 million from EUR23.8 million in the same period last year.

On the Small-Cap, Bialetti Industrie picks up 0.7 percent after announcing Thursday evening that it made a loss of EUR3.1 million in the first half of the year, worsening from the negative EUR2.0 million recorded in the first half of 2022. The increase in the loss, the company specified in a note, was mainly due to the increase in financial expenses related to the rise in interest rates.

I Grandi Viaggi gives up 0.5 percent. In the third quarter, the company saw its loss narrow by EUR2.0 million, an improvement from a net loss of EUR5.1 million in the same period last year. Revenues as of July 31 rose to EUR32.2 million from EUR24.4 million in Q3 2022.

Orsero rises 4.1 percent after reporting that it reported adjusted net income of EUR33.4 million in the first half of the year, up 57& from EUR32.4 million reported in the same period of 2022. On Friday, the company announced the launch of a share buyback program for a maximum of 70,000 shares, worth up to EUR1.0 million.

Among SMEs, ISCC Fintech remains down 4.9 percent, as at the opening, after it announced Thursday that the board of directors approved the half-year financial report reporting a loss of EUR1.4 million, which compares with a loss of EUR839,537 in the first half of 2022. Revenues amounted to EUR1.4 million, up from EUR1.1 million in the same period last year.

Italian Wine Brands rises with 6.1 percent thanks to a good half-year that reported sales revenues of EUR196.8 million, up from EUR177.3 million in the same period last year. Profit amounted to EUR4.6 million up from EUR3.9 million in the first half of 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green by 1.1 percent, the Shanghai Composite ended in the red by 0.3 percent, and the Hang Seng was up 1.0 percent.

In New York on European night, the Dow Jones closed in the green by 1.0%, the S&P up 0.8% while the Nasdaq finished up with 0.8%.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0662 versus USD1.0661 on Thursday in European equities closing, while the pound was worth USD1.2430 from USD1.2410 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD93.94 per barrel versus USD92.42 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,918.70 an ounce from USD1,906.82 an ounce Thursday evening.

On Friday afternoon's economic calendar, the U.S. will release import and export price indexes at 1430 CEST while industrial and manufacturing production data will be released at 1515 CEST. At 1600 CEST the Michigan Confidence Index and the Michigan 5-year inflation forecast will follow.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.