(Alliance News) - On Friday, Piazza Affari is expected to open up in the last session of the first week of the year, according to IG futures indications, followed by the other major European bourses in another day when Eurozone and US macros will be the most interesting part.

Thus, futures give the FTSE Mib up 105.0 points or up 0.4 percent, after closing Thursday down 0.1 percent at 24,832.70.

Paris' CAC 40 is expected to be up 30.0 points or 0.4 percent, as is Frankfurt's DAX 40 up 56.0 points or 0.4 percent, while London's FTSE 100 is expected to be in the green 20.7 points or 0.3 percent.

Among the smaller lists in Milan on Thursday, the Mid-Cap lost 0.1 percent to 40,614.78, the Small-Cap fell slightly to 28,288.48, and Italy Growth finished the session down 0.1 percent to 9,390.35.

On the predominantly bearish main list of Piazza Affari, oils recovered as Brent crude rose and slowly approached USD80 a barrel. Tenaris rose 2.9 percent. Saipem, up 0.4 percent, and Eni, up 0.2 percent, also did well.

ERG gave up 1.6.% as did Snam after the latter reported Tuesday that natural gas inventories as of Dec. 31, 2022 in its subsidiary Stogit's storage facilities amount to 9.3 billion cubic meters, plus 4.5 billion cubic meters of strategic storage.

This is about 2.6 billion more than the stock of 6.7 billion cubic meters recorded at the end of December 2021.

Stellantis, up 1.0 percent, said Thursday that it will "significantly expand" its partnership with Archer Aviation -- a California-based company that markets electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft -- after joining forces to produce Archer's Midnight eVTOL aircraft.

Stellantis also agreed to provide up to USD150 million in equity for a potential drawdown by Archer, at its discretion, in 2023 and 2024.

Hera lost 3.4 percent after announcing Thursday EUR150 million in district heating investments over the 2023-2026 period.

Of these, three Hera Group projects dedicated to district heating -- in Bologna, Ferrara, and Forlì -- were awarded funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, mission "Green Revolution and Ecological Transition," totaling nearly EUR50 million.

Terna gave up 1.9 percent after signing an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the capital of Edyna Transmission, an Alperia Group company dedicated to the transmission sector, which owns 34 km of high-voltage power lines and two power stations in South Tyrol.

The assets are already part of the national electricity transmission grid and were taken over by Terna for a total value of about EUR14 million. The deal is subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent.

Moncler, meanwhile, rose 0.4 percent, with Bernstein raising the target price to EUR60.00 from EUR54.00.

On the Mid-Cap, Industrie De Nora remained in the upper quarters, up 1.7 percent.

Piaggio was good, up 2.6 percent, and Saras, which, like the other oil-related companies on the Mib, followed a bullish trend, up 2.7 percent.

PharmaNutra is down 0.5 percent. The company announced the signing of three new international commercial agreements for the distribution of products from the SiderAL® and Cetilar® lines in the Indonesian Republic, Kuwait, and Mexico.

With the signing of these new contracts, the PharmaNutra Group currently has 47 distributors in 70 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Webuild lost 0.5 percent. On Monday, it announced that in the week of Dec. 28-30, 2022, inclusive, it bought back 40,500 of its own common shares.

On the Small-Cap, BasicNet gained 0.5 percent. The company disclosed on Friday that it purchased 16,500 shares of its own common stock between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30. As of today, the company holds 3.9 million treasury shares, or 7.2 percent of its share capital.

Civitanavi Systems rose 1.3 percent. The company announced that it has signed a ruling agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that will allow the company to have access to the Patent Box tax benefit for intellectual property for patents and know-how.

The tax benefit for the five-year period 2017-2021 will be accounted for in the fiscal year 2022 and the quantification will take place when the financial statements are prepared.

Among SMEs, Clabo gained 22 percent after being suspended for excess volatility for most of the session and after it announced on Wednesday that its U.S. subsidiary Howard McCray has concluded two commercial agreements worth a total of USD750,000, or EUR710,000, with 2 retail chains operating within the HoReCa channel.

The two trade agreements refer to deliveries to be made in the year 2023 regarding products in the "Dairy - Multipurpose" line.

Circle rose 1.1 percent. On Monday, the company announced that it has signed a new contract through the Log@Sea business network to supply advanced Gate Automation solutions to a leading Tyrrhenian multipurpose terminal.

"The order, the value of which exceeds EUR145,000, involves the implementation of a complete project of specialized hardware components and Milos software for the management of gate access control procedures for vehicles and Intermodal Transport Units. The topical moment and market confidence in the solutions behind our Connect 4 Agile Growth plan are confirmed," explained president and CEO, Luca Abatello.

Pharmacosmo closed up 1.5 percent. The company reported Wednesday that CEO Fabio de Concilio bought more than 26,500 shares of the company's common stock.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green 0.6 percent to 25,973.85, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1 percent to 3,157.64, and the Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to 21,060.41.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones closed 1.0 percent in the red at 32,930.08, the S&P gave up 1.2 percent to 3,808.10, while the Nasdaq left 1.5 percent on the sidelines at 10,305.24.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0513 versus USD1.0525 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.1905 from USD1.1897 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD79.19 a barrel from USD78.14 a barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,842.85 an ounce from USD1,826.70 an ounce Thursday night.

Friday's macro calendar includes a slot for the UK construction PMI at 1030 CET, half an hour before consumer and business confidence, retail sales, and Eurozone inflation.

From the US, focus on December nonfarm payrolls, coming at 1430 CET, the same time as the unemployment rate. At 1600 CET, it will be the turn of factory orders and durable goods data. At 1900 CET, close the day with Baker Hughes drilling rig data.

Among companies in the Piazza Affari, no particular major events are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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