(Alliance News) - On Thursday, Piazza Affari and major European indexes are expected to be in positive territory by IG futures.
The FTSE Mib is given up 212.5 points or 0.6 percent, after closing in the green 1.5 percent at 35,646.96.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is given up 40.5 points or 0.5 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is shown in the green by 47.9 points or 0.6 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected up 47.4 points or 0.2 percent.
In Milan last night, Mid-Cap rose 1.3% to 47,359.57, Small-Cap gained 0.3% to 28,007.94 while Italy Growth lost 0.5% to 7,861.98.
On the Mib, strength on Iveco Group, which closed up 6.0% at EUR9.9040 per share, in its third consecutive session with a bullish candle. Of note, on the stock, Marshall Wace filed its short position down to 1.56% from 1.60%.
Prysmian rose 4.4 percent, with price at EUR66.78, also on its third straight positive session. On the stock, Citigroup raised the target price to EUR73.00 from EUR69.00, with a 'buy' recommendation.
Intesa Sanpaolo - up 0.1 percent - is the first Italian bank to invest in Bitcoin, buying 11 digital assets worth USD1 million.
CEO, Carlo Messina, explained that this is a limited test, considering that the bank holds EUR100 billion in its securities portfolio.
Strength also on Buzzi's stock, up 2.9 percent, breaking a six-session downtrend. Stifel upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' and raised the taget price to EUR41.00 from EUR38.00.
Telecom Italia rose 0.5 percent. The company won a legal battle against partner Vivendi over the sale of the network to the KKR fund for EUR18.8 billion. The Milan court rejected Vivendi's appeal, which challenged TIM's board resolution on the sale, holding that it should go through the approval of the extraordinary shareholders' meeting and obtain the opinion of the related parties committee.
However, the judges deemed the appeal inadmissible, as Vivendi did not show interest in calling the meeting or blocking the sale.
The tail end of the list saw Saipem, which gave up 4.9 percent, with price at EUR2.5960, in its third bearish session in a row.
On the Mid-Cap, Cementir Holding advanced 3.4 percent to EUR10.86 per share, on its third bullish candle.
Fincantieri gave up 1.0 percent after announcing that it had completed the acquisition of Leonardo's Underwater Armament Systems business--down 0.2 percent on the Mib--through the purchase of the entire share capital of the newco WASS Submarine Systems.
The total value of the deal, announced May 9, is EUR 287 million, with a possible maximum adjustment of EUR 415 million, depending on future results.
MAIRE - up 0.1 percent to EUR8.72 - announced that KT-Kinetics Technology, backed by NextChem's technological know-how, has been awarded by Pengerang Biorefinery the licensing and engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for a hydrogen production unit to be located in Johor, Malaysia.
OVS and Unigross are preparing a joint bid to take over Conbipel, the financially troubled historic clothing chain that includes about one hundred stores and employees, Il Corriere della Sera wrote Wednesday. OVS would acquire the larger stores, turning them into stores with its own brands, while Unigross would take over the smaller ones. OVS stock rose 1.8 percent.
Safilo Group--up 0.8 percent--reported Tuesday the renewal of its global design license agreement with sportswear company Under Armour for the production and distribution of eyewear collections through 2031.
On the Small-Cap, strength on Bastogi, with Italy's first remaining listed company going up 1.4 percent, after rising 7.0 percent during the session.
SoftLab gained 6.5% to EUR0.82, after two consecutive bearish sessions.
B&C Speakers -- on a negative note of 1.6 percent -- reported Tuesday that FY2024 consolidated revenues were EUR100.0 million, registering a 6.4 percent growth from EUR94.0 million in FY2023, according to preliminary data.
Among SMEs, Innovatec rose 0.3 percent, breaking a streak of six straight sessions among the bearish.
Sicily by Car did not trade, remaining at EUR4.20. The company announced Tuesday the start of operations of subsidiary Sicily by Car Spain with the opening of a branch at Ibiza's San Jose International Airport.
Gibus - down 0.9 percent to EUR8.80 - reported Tuesday that its board of directors approved consolidated operating revenues as of December 31, which came in at EUR84.6 million, down 7.4 percent from EUR91.4 million in 2023.
STAR7 lost 1.6 percent. The company reported that it has completed the final acquisition of the business units of Consulting Automotive Aerospace Railway Spa and STI Srl, both of which are in judicial liquidation.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.3 percent to 38,572.60, the Shanghai Composite finished in the green 0.3 percent to 3,236.03, and the Hang Seng rose 1.1 percent to 19,488.53.
In New York last night, the Dow advanced 1.7 percent, the Nasdaq closed in the green by 2.5 percent, and the S&P 500 up 1.8 percent.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0289 versus USD1.0304 in Wednesday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2210 from USD1.2257 last night.
Among commodities, boost on oil, with Brent crude worth USD78.95 per barrel from USD81.02 per barrel in Wednesday's European stock close. Gold trades at USD2,725.51 an ounce from USD2,680.37 an ounce Wednesday evening.
Thursday's macroeconomic calendar features Italy's trade balance at 1100 CET.
Overseas, at 1430 CET, eyes will be on US retail sales and jobless claims. At 1600 CET, natural gas stocks data will be released while the day will close with the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, due at 2230 CET.
Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, Fope, I Grandi Viaggi, and Saccheria F.lli Franceschetti are scheduled to report results.
By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter
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