European indices expected to rise, focus on macro data

(Alliance News) - The Italian stock market is expected to rise at Thursday's opening, ahead of labor market data for Italy and the Eurozone, due out in the morning.

The FTSE Mib is up 212.5 points or 0.5% after closing up 0.8% at 43,079.58 on Wednesday.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is expected to rise 31.4 points or 0.3%, Paris' CAC 40 is estimated to rise 20.6 points or 0.3%, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected to rise 102.5 points or 0.4%.

Last night in Milan, the Mid-Cap closed slightly down at 56,646.79, the Small-Cap gained 0.4%, and the Italy Growth rose 0.3% to 8,578.76 points.

Tenaris, fresh from a EUR41 million buyback, led the blue chips with a 4.1% rise to EUR15.815 per share.

On the banking front, the hypothesis of Vittorio Grilli and Alessandro Melzi d'Eril taking the helm at Mediobanca, respectively as chairman with operational powers and CEO, is gaining strength. Mediobanca shares closed trading up 1.6%.

Meanwhile, talks continue with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, up 2.9%, to set up the integration between the credit institutions.

Intesa Sanpaolo, which gained 1.4%, signed two agreements with the European Investment Bank for a total amount of EUR750 million to support the development of renewable energy and the related supply chain.

Terna, down 0.8%, announced the results of the first auction of the Electricity Storage Capacity Procurement Mechanism. 10 GWh of storage capacity was allocated in the south and on the islands, equal to 100% of the required demand.

Eni, after a EUR 32 million buyback and the signing of an exploration contract with Ivory Coast for the CI-707 offshore block, closed up 0.8%.

Brunello Cucinelli closed the basket with a 2.1% loss, followed by Lottomatica Group with 2.4%.

In the Mid-Cap segment, Fincantieri signed an agreement with Aeronautical Service for the adoption of carbon-based composite materials and innovative technologies in naval, civil, and military applications. The stock lost 1.1%.

Banca Generali, which completed a EUR 20 million buyback program, recorded an increase of 0.1%.

Acea, down 1.3%, announced on Tuesday evening that it had completed, through its subsidiary Areti, the sale to Terna of 100% of the capital of Rete 2, owner of the high-voltage electricity network in the Rome metropolitan area.

Among the best performers were Pirelli, up 4.0%, and ERG, up 3.3%; among the worst performers of the day were Tecnhoprobe and Avio, down 2.0% and 1.7%, respectively.

Among small caps, Class Editori closed the first half with a net loss of EUR 2.8 million, an improvement on the EUR 4.1 million loss recorded in the same period of 2024. The stock fell 2.0%.

Caleffi - up 1.1% - launched a new buyback program involving a total of 125,000 shares worth EUR100,000.

Triboo - up 8.1% - announced that it closed the first half of the year with a net profit of EUR 745,000, compared to a loss of EUR 1.7 million recorded in the same period of 2024.

Noteworthy were the positive returns of Seri Industrial, with 7.6%, and Met.Extra with 12%; at the bottom, however, was Itway with 7.1% sales, followed by EPH with 5.1%.

CFO Nicola Sautto is leaving Biesse and will be replaced by La Tour: the stock bid them farewell with a 1.6% rise.

Among SMEs, First Capital returned to profit with EUR 7.3 million, an improvement on the net loss of EUR 5.6 million recorded in the same period of 2024. The stock rose 0.5%.

ICOP - flat at EUR18.50 - closed the first half with a net profit of EUR10.8 million, up 47% from EUR7.3 million at June 30, 2024. Revenues for the six months stood at EUR160 million, up 104% from EUR78.6 million in the first half of 2024.

Emma Villas - down 4.1% - reported a consolidated net loss of EUR 3.6 million for the first half of the year, bringing its net equity to approximately EUR 600,000.

Portobello rose 34% to EUR1.61 per share. SG company performed worst of all, down 14%, and Renovalo was also negative, down 17%.

In Asia, with Shanghai still closed, the Nikkei is up 1.2% at 45,071.25 and the Hang Seng is up 1.7% at 27,312.87.

In New York, at Wednesday's close, the Dow Jones rose 0.1% to 46,441.10, the Nasdaq gained 0.4% to 22,755.16, and the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 6,711.20.

On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD1.1743 from USD1.1743 at Wednesday's stock market close, while the pound is trading at USD1.3480 from USD1.3502 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD 65.69 per barrel, up from USD 65.07 per barrel at Wednesday's close, while gold was worth USD 3,867.84 per ounce, down from USD 3,890.80 per ounce yesterday.

On Thursday's economic calendar, Italy's monthly unemployment rate will be announced at 1000 CEST, while at 1100 CEST the focus will be on Eurozone unemployment.

At 1:30 p.m. CEST, the focus shifts to the US labor market, while at 4:00 p.m. CEST, US factory orders data will be released. This will be followed by a US Treasury bond auction.

At 7:00 p.m. CEST, De Guindos of the ECB will give a speech.

No particular announcements are expected from the Italian stock exchange.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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