(Alliance News) - Milan trades up in the last session of the week, taking the Mib above 27,300 Friday after three consecutive sessions of losses, outperforming other European exchanges.

Market sentiment was boosted mainly by excellent quarterly corporate results, while, on the macro front, caution prevails among the domestics ahead of the Fitch rating agency's ruling on Italy's sovereign rating later in the day.

Thus, the FTSE Mib advances 0.6 percent to 27,375.09.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 advances 0.5 percent, Paris' CAC 40 advances 1.0 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is picking up 0.6 percent.

On the smaller lists, the Mid-Cap is in the green by 0.1 percent to 42,048.78, the Small-Cap is giving up 0.3 percent to 28,211.61 while Italy Growth is giving up 0.2 percent to 9,120.08.

On the Mib Recordati confirmed bullish as seen since the opening trades, rising 4.0% to EUR44.87 per share. Recordati Spa's board of directors on Thursday approved the financial report as of March 31, 2023, which closed with a net profit of EUR124.0 million as a percentage of revenues of 23%. This shows a 28 percent increase over the same period last year. Consolidated net revenues in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to EUR551.4 million up 32 percent from the first quarter of the previous year.

BPER Banca is also proceeding apace, advancing 1.1 percent to EUR2.69 per share rearing its head again after two bearish sessions. On the stock it is mentioned that Capital Fund Management cut its short to 0.85% from 0.92%.

Reflecting the good momentum in the banking market, good buying also on Banca Generali, which advanced 2.2 percent. The banking group reported Thursday that it made a profit of EUR83.1 million in the first quarter of 2023, up 22 percent from the EUR68.3 million recorded in the same period of 2022. Net banking income amounted to EUR193.2 million from EUR160.8 million in the same period of 2022.

Among the few negative notes, Iveco, on the other hand, gives up 1.0 percent after the eve's contraction of 6.0 percent.

On the cadet segment, Cembre is bringing home 3.0%, pending its quarterly report due on Monday.

Saras, on the other hand, is advancing 3.6% heading for its third session to end with a positive balance.

Iren - in the green by 0.6 percent - reported Friday that Fitch revised the company's outlook to 'Positive' from 'Satble' and confirmed its 'BBB' rating for both long-term creditworthiness and senior unsecured debt. The revision of the outlook is motivated by Iren's improvement in financial metrics, and the rating reflects the group's well-integrated and diversified business mix, predominantly exposed to regulated and quasi-regulated activities, which enables solid performance in the current volatile energy market environment.

doValue, on the other hand, falls more than 11 percent after its quarterly report. The period, including nonrecurring items, was a loss of EUR2.7 million in the first quarter, compared to a profit of EUR8.9 million in the first quarter of 2022.

The board of illimity Bank--down 2.4 percent--reported Thursday that it had approved the illimity group's results as of March 31, which closed with a pre-tax profit of EUR12.1 million, expressing a net profit of EUR7.8 million. The latter was EUR15.7 million in the same perid of last year.

As the bank writes in the released note, "figures not fully comparable with previous quarters as they incorporate the impacts related to the mentioned consensual termination of the previous license agreement quantifiable in EUR8.5 million gross."

Net interest income stood at EUR48.4 million from EUR36.0 million in the same period last year.

On the Small-Cap, Geox steps back 4.06 percent to EUR1.00 per share after reporting Thursday that first-quarter revenues rose 21 percent year-on-year to EUR223.7 million from EUR184.4 million in the same period last year.

Digital Bros -- down 6.0 percent -- reported Thursday that in the first nine months it reported consolidated net revenues of EUR89.2 million, up 7.5 percent from EUR82.9 million as of March 31, 2022. Ebitda stood at EUR30.5 million from EUR31.5 million in the same period last year.

Bialetti Industrie -- down 7.4 percent -- reported first quarter revenues increased to EUR36.3 million from EUR35.0 million on a like-for-like basis. Ebitda, however, fell to EUR5.0 million from EUR5.9 million a year earlier.

Conafi, on the other hand, is picking up 3.6 percent, bringing it to the top of the list after two bearish sessions.

Also moving well is Gequity, which by advancing 3.4 percent also places itself in the top group as it awaits results expected to be published today.

Among SMEs, H-Farm takes the lead with a 7.4 percent stretch, heading for its third session on the bullish side.

By contrast, Confinvest marks a 4.8 percent stretch, bringing the balance on the weekly frame back into the black.

In the red, Alfio Bardolla steps back 2.3% to EUR2.16. The stock on a year-to-date basis has lost about 27 percent.

The bottom of the list, on the other hand, is for Fenix Entertainment, which gives up 4.0 percent echoing the viglia's 4.0 percent loss.

In New York on European night, the Dow gave up 0.7 percent, the S&P gave up 0.2 percent, and the Nasdaq picked up 0.2 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0907 versus USD1.0911 at Thursday's close. By contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2524 from USD1.2503 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD74.65 per barrel versus USD75.74 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,005.00 an ounce from USD2,023.00 an ounce last night in closing European equities.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, in Europe, the Spanish consumer confidence index is due at 1230 CEST.

Overseas, at 1430 comes data on the U.S. Export-Import Price Index.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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