(Alliance News) - On Friday, major European indexes closed the last session of the week on the downside, with Paris once again doing worse than all and Piazza Affari falling below 34,200 on a stingy day from a macroeconomic perspective for the Eurozone.

"In Europe, France's CAC 40 continued to underperform, losing about 1.5 percent on the day and remaining down on a weekly basis due to political instability in the country," said Axel Rudolph, Senior Technical Analyst at IG.

"In the U.S., equity indexes managed to break a five-day selling streak thanks to a higher-than-expected ISM manufacturing PMI."

Oil rises to 2 1/2-month highs, driven by optimism about China's recovery and a drop in U.S. stocks.

The FTSE Mib closes Friday down 0.7 percent to 34,127.62, the Mid-Cap is in the red 0.6 percent to 47,715.99, the Small-Cap gives up 0.2 percent to 28,465.57, and Italy Growth drops fractional red to 7,947.22.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closes down 0.4 percent, Paris' CAC 40 loses 1.5 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 ends down 0.6 percent.

On the macroeconomic front, the ISM manufacturing PMI rose 0.9 points from the previous month to 49.3 in December, exceeding market expectations of 48.4.

The result reflects the softest pace of contraction in the U.S. manufacturing sector since the 50.3 recorded in March, which was the only period of expansion in the sector since September 2022.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, only four stocks are bullish, with Saipem doing best of all and advancing 2.3 percent with more than 39 million changed hands.

They are followed by Leonardo, in the green by 0.5 percent, and Azimut, up 0.2 percent.

Eni--in fractional green--reported Friday that it had bought back 3.9 million of its own ordinary shares for a total value of EUR50.0 million as part of its buyback program.

Stellantis is hurting, retreating 3.5 percent. 2024 closed with just over 1.5 million sales, stable compared to 2023 but 19% lower than 2019: almost 360,000 registrations missing.

Stellantis suffering more than the others: in 2024, registrations dropped 10 percent to 454,000 units, with market share down from 32 percent to 29 percent. Fiat, in particular, lost 41 percent, surpassed by Dacia and Renault.

In contrast, Asian groups advanced, with Toyota up 25 percent and Kia and MG each up 32 percent. MG, led by China's SAIC, is spearheading the Chinese expansion, with BYD showing signs of rapid growth while starting from minimal shares.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena gives up 0.9 percent after announcing that, in line with the funding plan and having received approval from the European Central Bank, it will exercise on Jan. 22 the early full redemption option on the EUR400.0 million denominated Tier 2 subordinated bond with a coupon of 8.0 percent.

The bonds, fully placed to institutional investors, will be repaid in full at par, along with any accrued and unpaid interest on the early redemption date.

At the bottom of the main list is Campari, down 5.2%. The stock was weighed down by the statement of U.S. general surgeon Vivek Murthy, who called for alcoholic beverage labels to include cancer warnings.

On the Mid-Cap, top of the list MAIRE ends in the green by 1.7 percent, in its second consecutive bullish session. The company announced Thursday that its subsidiary Nextchem has signed a new EUR125 million loan, 70% of the amount assisted by SACE Spa's Archimede Guarantee, strengthening its financial capacity to support investments in technological innovation and R&D.

Among the bullish, Ariston Holding is in the green by 1.3 percent, followed by Moltiply Group, up 1.2 percent.

Salvatore Ferragamo gives up 3.0%, with nearly 400,000 shares traded.

At the bottom, Philogen retreats 4.2% and records the steepest decline on the list.

Among small-cap companies, EPH is flying, up 18%, followed by Eurotech, up 15%.

On the other side of the list, Seri Industrial leaves 4.1% on the parterre, as does I Grandi Viaggi.

Mondo TV drops 3.2 percent after it applied to CLG Capital for the subscription of the fourth tranche of the convertible bond underwritten by the latter.

The tranche concerns the subscription of 10 bonds of EUR125,000 each. After this tranche, two more will remain to be issued, for a maximum of 16 more bonds.

"Although in a general context of difficulties, the company confirms that negotiations to seek ordinary forms of financing, alternative to the convertible bond plan, are actively continuing. To date, these negotiations have not yet materialized, but Mondo TV continues to be committed to finding solutions that can avoid recourse to the subsequent tranches of the convertible bond and limit the dilutive effect resulting from the conversion of the tranches already exercised," the company said.

On the alternative capital market in Piazza Affari, Edgelab ends ahead 43 percent, followed by Askoll Eva, in the green 35 percent.

Among the bearers, Aatech retreats 13 percent, while High Quality Food drops 6.7 percent.

GT Talent Group - in the red by 14 percent - announced that it has completed the accelerated bookbuilding process of 608,500 ordinary shares. The shares were subscribed by qualified investors at a price of EUR1.80 each, for a total value of EUR1.1 million.

The proceeds from the placement of the new shares will enable the group to meet its current liquidity needs and, partially, for future liquidity needs, with the understanding that the group's total needs for the 2025 financial year have been estimated by the board of directors at EUR1.5 million.

Debut among SMEs for Ubaldi Costruzioni, a leading construction and infrastructure company with a very high specialization in the industrial, commercial and office building sectors.

It does worse than all Farmacosmo, in the red by 24 percent.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq gains 1.5 percent, and the S&P 500 is in the green by 1.1 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0286 against USD1.0252 on Thursday's European equities close. The pound is worth USD1.2409 from USD1.2378 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD76.47 per barrel from USD76.39 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold trades at USD2,652.99 an ounce from USD2,671.19 an ounce last night.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar opens at 0130 CET from Japan with the services PMI;

at 0945 CET is expected, from Italy, the services and composite PMI, and then 5 minutes apart, it will be the turn of the French PMI and, finally, the German figure.

For the Eurozone, at 1000 CET it is the turn of the inflation figure and the services and composite PMI, while at 1030 CET the Sentix investor confidence index will be released.

In the afternoon, at 1400 CET the German inflation figure will be available, and at 1500 CET it is the turn of the Spanish business confidence figure.

From the U.S., at 1545 CET, the services and composite PMI will be released, and following that, it closes at 1600 CET with the report on factory orders.

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

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

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