(Alliance News) - European stock exchanges are expected to open lower Thursday morning in the aftermath of the release of the FOMC's minutes from its last meeting in December, which clarified that no cuts to benchmark rates are expected in 2023.

The Federal Reserve reiterated its determination to continue fighting inflation with further rate hikes and warned that this stance should not be underestimated by investors.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is expected to be in the red by 70.0 points or 0.3 percent after closing up 1.7 percent at 24,860.56.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open down 10.0 points or 0.1 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is expected down 24.5 points or 0.4 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected down 33.5 points or 0.2 percent.

Among Italy's smaller lists last night, the Mid-Cap gained 1.0 percent to 40,673.88, the Small-Cap rose 0.3 percent to 28,299.98, and Italy Growth finished up 0.3 percent to 9,398.14.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Telecom Italia closed on top with a 4.2 percent rise, followed by UniCredit, the best among banks, which posted a 3.7 percent gain.

Enel and Hera also did well, both in the green by 3.6 percent.

In the red, however, the oil sector, with Tenaris the tail-end and down 7.1 percent. Saipem gave up 3.1 percent while ERG fell 2.8 percent. Eni closed 1.5 percent in the red.

On the mostly bullish Mid-Cap, Juventus FC still remained in the highs and closed up 1.6 percent.

PharmaNutra rose 2.4 percent after announcing the signing of three new international commercial agreements to distribute 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 rallied 2.1 percent after the 0.6 percent red on eve. On Monday it disclosed that in the week of Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, 2022, inclusive, it purchased 40,500 shares of its own common stock.

The shares were taken over at an average price of EUR1.3837 per share for a total value of EUR56,040.74.

Anima Holding closed up 1.7 percent. The company announced Friday that it is continuing its partnership with the Crédit Agricole Italia group, adapting as necessary the previous agreement linking Anima and Credito Valtellinese.

The revision, as Anima explained in a note, became appropriate following the merger of Credito Valtellinese into Crédit Agricole Italia, effective April 24, 2022.

The agreement maintained the original term to the end of 2027. CAI and Anima intend to preserve the industrial value of the partnership, related to the stability of assets under management.

Zignago Vetro - up 2.5 percent - announced Tuesday that it has lost its Small and Medium Enterprise status as the transitional regime that changed the definition of SME, eliminating the reference to the turnover parameter, has come to an end.

On the Small-Cap, Trevi Finanziaria Industriale gave up 0.3 percent after closing down 0.8 percent. The company announced Monday that the period for the exercise of option rights relating to the offer to shareholders of up to 79.1 million ordinary shares for a maximum total amount of EUR25.1 million has ended.

During the offering period as a result of the exercise of 110.6 million option rights, 58.0 million shares in the offering were subscribed for a total consideration of EUR18.4 million.

BasicNet also did well, in the green by 0.4 percent. The company announced Friday that it had purchased 16,500 of its own ordinary shares between December 27 and 30.

The shares were taken over at an average price per share of EUR5.4810, for a total value of EUR90,440.50.

To date, the company holds 3.9 million treasury shares, representing 7.2 percent of its share capital.

Civitanavi Systems sold 0.2 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 2022 annual financial statements, and quantification will take place when the financial statements are prepared.

Among SMEs, Poligrafici Printing -- in profit by 2.3 percent -- announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Cooperativa Editoriale Giornali Associati Spa through its subsidiary Centro Stampa Poligrafici for the printing of the daily newspaper "Corriere Romagna."

This agreement, effective Jan. 1, 2023, will run for four years and provides for the printing of all editions of the daily Corriere Romagna in CSP's production facilities.

Circle closed in a tie. It announced Monday 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.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed in the green by 0.4 percent at 25,820.80, the Hang Seng was up 1.3 percent at 21,059.89, and the Shanghai Composite finished up 1.0 percent at 3,155.22.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed up 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq finished up 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.8 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0607 versus USD1.0619 at Wednesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2028 from USD1.2048 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD78.47 per barrel from USD78.34 per barrel last night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,854.47 an ounce from USD1,865.60 an ounce Wednesday night.

On Thursday's economic calendar, at 0930 CET comes the German construction PMI along with those of Italy, France and the Eurozone. An hour later, for the UK, comes the composite PMI and the services sector PMI.

Back in Italy, at 1100 CET, it is the turn of the consumer price index for December and, from the Eurozone, the producer price index.

Overseas, at 1430 CET, come data on exports, imports and unemployment claims.

Among companies listed on Piazza Affari, no particular announcements are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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