(Alliance News) - On Monday's open, major European indexes met futures forecasts and opened in negative territory, with Piazza Affari around 34,000.
"Although it is difficult to draw firm conclusions in a week characterized by low trading volumes due to the holidays, price movements seem to be approaching the narrative of a rotation from technology stocks to non-tech stocks, expected by many investors as the main theme for the coming year," comments Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst at Swissquote Bank.
"In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is stable," the analyst continues, "EUR/USD finds resistance at 1.0435, while the pound falls toward 1.26. The Japanese yen continues to test resistance at JPY158, while the Japanese finance minister said the government will take appropriate measures against excessive yen movements."
Thus, the FTSE Mib is down 0.3 percent to 34,071.99, the Mid-Cap is down 0.4 percent to 47,553.46, the Small-Cap is in the fractional red at 28,222.76 while Italy Growth rises 0.2 percent to 7,845.14.
London's FTSE 100 gives up 0.4 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.3 percent as is Frankfurt's DAX 40.
On the macroeconomic front, in Japan, the manufacturing sector remained in contraction territory at the end of the year, although the pace of decline slowed, according to data released Monday. Au Jibun Bank's Japanese manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6 points in December from 49.0 in November.
On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, among the few bullish performers, Banca Monte Paschi Siena opens in the green by 1.0 percent. The bank announced Friday that it has co-opted Alessandro Caltagirone to the position of nonindependent director, as well as Elena De Simone, while Marcella Panucci, Francesca Renzulli, and Barbara Tadolini were appointed as independent directors.
Hera opens in the green by 0.6 percent to EUR3.41 per share.
Enel follows, in the green by 0.2%, with about 1.4 million shares changed hands.
The banking sector falls, with UniCredit in the fractional red, Intesa Sanpaolo giving up 0.3%, BPER Banca dropping 0.5%, and Banco BPM down 0.9%.
At the bottom of the main list is Prysmian, in the red by 1.2%, albeit with only 25,000 shares traded.
On the Mid-Cap, WIIT opens in the green by 1.1 percent. The company announced Friday that it has signed a contract renewal with one of Italy's world-class leaders in the luxury sector, a long-standing client of the group.
Caltagirone rises 1.3 percent to EUR6.48, after giving up 1.5 percent in Friday's session.
In the red, with the biggest opening declines, are Carel Industries, down 1.3 percent, Fincantieri, down 1.5 percent, and El.En., which loses 2.7 percent.
On the Small-Cap, Gas Plus does best of all and rises 6.0%, with about 170,000 shares traded. The stock has gained 16% in the past month.
Class Editori, in the green by 4.5%, is doing well, bringing its monthly performance back into the green.
The shareholders' meeting of Olidata - in the green by 4.1 percent - resolved to authorize the board of directors to purchase a maximum of 1.9 million shares of common stock post-grouping, or 19.3 million shares pre-grouping.
Generalfinance - unchanged at EUR12.65 per share - on Friday announced the renewal of factoring contracts in the technical form of recourse and nonrecourse credit recession with Factorit, a factoring company of the Banca Popolare di Sondrio group, and with BPER Factor, a factoring company of the BPER Banca group.
On the other side of the list, Fidia gives up 7.6 percent, with over 800,000 shares traded, after closing up 25 percent last session.
Among SMEs, buying continues for Monnalisa, up 8.8 percent, following Friday's 20 percent green. Over the past 30 days, the stock has gained 95 percent.
iVision Tech - in the green by 0.6 percent - on Friday announced that it had fully executed the agreements signed on October 15 regarding the acquisition of a minority stake equal to 45 percent of the share capital of Molex Zetronic, a Padua-based company belonging to the U.S. multinational Molex group, active in the manufacture of specific and customized products for companies and automotive groups.
Lindbergh -- in the green by 2.3 percent -- announced Friday the sale of the business unit dedicated to overnight deliveries in France to TCS SAS, a subsidiary of the Sterne Group. The transaction, with an estimated price between EUR1.2 million and EUR1.5 million, will be effective January 1, 2025.
Soges - unchanged at EUR2.15 per share - announced Friday that it had signed a contract for the subleasing of business units, for the management of the non-hotel accommodation business called "Relais Villa L'Olmo," the non-hotel bed and breakfast business "Villa Sole," and the restaurant business with the "Diadema" sign that make up the "Villa Olmo" complex, a facility located in Chianti.
At the bottom of the alternative market, Pozzi Milano gave up 5.8 percent and Ulysses Biomed lost 8.1 percent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed Monday down 1.0 percent to 39,894.54, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.2 percent to 3,407.33, and the Hang Seng gave up 0.2 percent to 20,041.42.
In New York, at Friday's close, the Dow lost 0.8 percent to 42,992.21, the Nasdaq gave up 1.5 percent to 19,722.03 and the S&P 500 finished down at 5,970.84.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0420 against USD1.0427 in Friday's European equities close. The pound is worth USD1.2570 from USD1.2585 on Friday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD73.50 per barrel from USD73.57 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold trades at USD2,624.21 an ounce from USD2,630.99 an ounce Friday night.
Monday's macroeconomic calendar includes the pending home sales report in the afternoon at 1600 CET from the US.
Among companies listed on the Stock Exchange, no particular announcements are expected.
By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter
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