(Alliance News) - European stock markets-with only London being the exception-are expected to open in the green on Wednesday, with trading rooms expecting a monetary policy change from the Bank of Japan that failed to materialize.

Japan's central bank left its ultra accommodative monetary policy unchanged, with officials taking the market by surprise by also confirming the band cap on the 10-year bond interest rate at 0.5 percent. In the wake of the decision, the Japanese yen weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar to JPY130.00, while Japanese stocks rose pushed up by export company stocks.

In December, the EU's new car market rose 12.8 percent, the fifth consecutive increase this year, as released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association - ACEA on Wednesday. However with 896,967 units sold , last month's volumes remained well below pre-pandemic levels in November 2019.

Germany and Italy contributed positively to this overall growth with increases of 38 percent and 21 percent, respectively. In Spain, however, there was a sharp decline of 14 percent, and in France the figure was essentially unchanged, down 0.1 percent.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, rose 32.50 points after closing up 0.3 percent Tuesday evening.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is down 5.30 points, Paris' CAC 40 is up 12.20 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 21.50 points.

Among the smaller lists on Tuesday, the Mid-Cap closed up 0.5 percent to 42,452.12, the Small-Cap rose 0.2 percent to 29,502.75, and Italy Growth gave up 0.4 percent to 9,559.88.

On the main list of Piazza Affari on Tuesday evening, Stellantis -- in the green by 0.3 percent -- and Vulcan Energy Resources announced Tuesday that they had signed a binding agreement for the first part of a multiphase plan to develop new geothermal projects with the intent of decarbonizing the energy mix at Stellantis' industrial site in Rüsselsheim, Germany, where the DS4 and Opel Astra cars are produced.

Plenitude, an Eni benefit company that closes up 0.3 percent, and Simply Blue Group, an Irish developer of blue economy projects, announced Tuesday that they have signed an agreement to jointly develop a pipeline of new floating offshore wind projects in Italy.

Banco BPM -- in the red by 0.6 percent -- announced Monday that it had signed a EUR5 million financing agreement to benefit Mare Group, a company that has been in business for more than 20 years and focuses on innovation through new enabling technologies for industry.

As for Telecom Italia, the stock closed the session up 0.8 percent. "Piazza Affari continues to feel an air of battle over Telecom Italia, following the resignation of Arnaud de Puyfontaine from the telephone giant's board of directors. With this move Vivendi clearly wants to keep its hands free on the sale of the network to Cdp and private funds and prepare alternative scenarios," commented Francesco Bonazzi, columnist for Alliance News.

"That it is on the way out of the quagmire is evidenced by the fact that in one month the share price has recovered 28 percent and today passes hands at EUR0.26 with a 1.0 percent rise. Capitalization still remains unsatisfactory and stands at EUR5.47 billion, or one-fifth of debt and one-sixth of what Vivendi values the network alone. The French have held 24 percent of TIM since 2016 and are its largest shareholder, having shelled out about EUR4 billion. To date, their potential capital loss is about EUR3 billion."

On the cadet segment, Brunello Cucinelli ended 0.8 percent in the red after reporting that it had purchased 24,125 of its own ordinary shares for a total value of EUR1.7 million or so.

Maire Tecnimont - up 2.2 percent - reported that its subsidiary Tecnimont has received a letter of award from ADNOC for preliminary engineering and procurement work related to the onshore structures of the Hail & Ghasha project, as a member of a joint venture comprising Tecnimont, Technip Energies and Samsung Engineering.

The total value of the preliminary engineering and procurement work for the onshore structures is approximately USD80 million for the joint venture. The scope of PCSA's work also includes the preparation of an Open Book Estimate for the execution of the entire project, which will be considered as part of the client's final investment decision.

Seco advanced by 1.1 percent. Axelera AI on Tuesday announced that it has selected Seco as the sole European developer of edge AI solutions based on its MetisTM AI platform, a high-performance, cost-effective and user-friendly platform that combines hardware and software to accelerate computer vision on the edge.

On the Small-Cap, regarding the tender offer launched by Nova for its own shares, DeA Capital announced Monday that Morrow Sodali will act as Global Information Agent in order to provide information related to the offer to all holders of DeA Capital common shares. The company's stock closed flat at EUR1.48 per share.

algoWatt gave up 1.5 percent after announcing Monday that it has been awarded a EUR275,000 financing for activities as a digital energy solution provider and system integrator under the Thumbs Up project "Thermal energy storage solUtions to optimally Manage BuildingS and Unlock their grid balancing and flexibility Potential."

The project is funded with funds from the Horizon Europe program to achieve high-performance results that contribute significantly to the development of a sustainable economy in the EU.

Among SMEs, TraWell Co left 1.9 percent on the parterre after reporting that Edoardo Zarghetta has resigned from the company's board as part of a reorganization of the group's corporate bodies.

IDNTT, MarTech Content Factory active in omnichannel content production, announced Monday the expansion of its shareholder base with the entry of two leading institutional investors who are entering the company's share capital following the purchase of 305,000 shares-about 4 percent of the capital-including 265,000 from President and CEO Christian Traviglia and 40,000 from partner Umanware. The stock lost 1.8 percent.

Gismondi 1754 lost 4.1 percent after announcing Monday that it had signed a five-year franchise agreement-with an option to renew between the parties upon expiration-with Qatar's Al Mana family to distribute the Italian brand's jewelry in the Gulf Cooperation Council area, which now includes Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

Gibus dropped 2.9 percent after reporting revenues of EUR84.0 million, up about 16 percent from EUR72.7 million in the same period last year.

The company points out that the result was due to both organic growth and the acquisition of the Leiner Group on Sept. 30, 2022.

In New York on the European night, the Dow closed down 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq in the green by 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 closed down 0.2 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng traded just above parity as did the Shanghai Composite, while the Nikkei rallied 2.5 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0804 versus USD1.0806 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2316 from USD1.2277 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD86.66 per barrel from USD85.58 per barrel last night. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,904.47 an ounce from USD1,914.15 an ounce last session.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1000 CET, the trade balance is released in Italy.

Half an hour later, back in the UK, in comes the house price index and labor productivity data.

At 1100 CET, December inflation and construction sector output data are released.

Overseas, at 1300 CET, it is the turn of the MBA mortgage rate.

Later, at 1430 CET, come the U.S. producer price index, retail sales data and from Canada the industrial goods price index.

Among the companies listed on the Stock Exchange, the results of I Grandi Viaggi are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

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