Europeans down sharply, weigh political tensions

(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed sharply lower on Thursday, the day after the Federal Reserve's decision to leave rates unchanged, with heavy selling hitting all major European bourses.

Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG, said, "It was a week to forget for Europe. The early French elections prompted investors to flee European equities just as those markets were beginning to pick up the pace after a decade or more of underperformance relative to the U.S."

"Compared to the prospect of far-right members sitting in the National Assembly, the U.K. looks like an island of stability, although FTSE 100 and 250 were unable to escape today's general risk aversion."

The FTSE Mib closed Thursday down 2.2 percent to 33,609.85, the Mid-Cap gave up 1.9 percent to 47,074.80, the Small-Cap finished 1.6 percent in the red to 28,650.31 while Italy Growth fell 0.6 percent to 8,074.41.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 0.6 percent, Paris' CAC 40 lost 2.2 percent while Frankfurt's DAX 40 gave up 2.0 percent.

On the blue chip list, Iveco Group did worst at the end of the session, down 5.2 percent. Volumes were average for the list, with 3.1 million shares changing hands, while the stock closed at EUR11.0350 from EUR11.62 at which it opened trading.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, down 3.9 percent, and financial stocks, with Azimut Holding leading the way, also down 3.6 percent.

Enel - in the red by 1.3 percent - informed that Enel Peru has finalized the sale of its entire holdings in the electricity distribution and supply company Enel Distribución Perú and the advanced energy services company Enel X Peru to North Lima Power Grid Holding. The latter is controlled by China Southern Power Grid International.

Poste Italiane has for 1.5 percent, not benefiting from the fact that Morgan Stanley raised its target price on the stock to EUR15.00 from EUR14.80 per share.

Up only Telecom Italia, by 0.6 percent, and three other stocks, by low percentages.

On the Mid-Cap, Cementir Holding lost 1.7 percent to EUR9.95 per share, not repeating its eve's rise.

Good purchases only on Caltagirone, up 6.0%, while almost everything else on the list finished the session down.

Webuild -- in the red by 4.2% -- announced the terms of its senior unsecured fixed-rate bonds on Wednesday. Proceeds from the net bond will be used to repay the company's existing debt, including through the repurchase of all of the EUR500.0 million notes due Oct. 26, 2024, and part of the EUR750.0 million notes due Dec. 15, 2025, and for general purposes of the Webuild group.

OVS sold 5.0 percent. Of note, the company announced Wednesday that it reported first quarter ended April 30 net sales of EUR352.2 million from EUR336.5 million, up 5.0% from the same period a year earlier. The company reported Ebitda of EUR29.7 million from EUR27.5 million, up 8.1%, and first quarter Ebit of EUR14.2 million from EUR11.7 million in 2023.

Worse did Fincantieri, down 5.5 percent, and MFE B, with a 5.2 percent red. On the other hand, the former Mediaset A shares gave up 4.8 percent.

On the Small-Cap, AbitareIn gave up 10% the day after reporting that it closed the first half of the year to March 31 with revenues of EUR34 million, more than halved from EUR76.7 million as of March 31, 2023.

Pre-tax profit plummeted to EUR3.3 million from EUR23.2 million as of March 31, 2023. Net income, on the other hand, dropped to EUR1.1 million from EUR22.3 million a year earlier.

TXT e-solutions--up 6.6 percent--reported Wednesday that between June 3 and June 7 it bought 4,678 shares at an average price of EUR20.619 for a total value of EUR96,457.25. As a result of these purchases, the company holds 1.3 million treasury shares or 9.6 percent of its share capital.

Among SMEs, Alfio Bardolla closed up 11 percent, bringing the price to EUR2.69 per share.

Giglio Group--up 2.9 percent--announced on Wednesday the signing of a strategic agreement with Elior, Italy's leading group active in foodservice and travel services, with an established presence in six countries worldwide. The agreement calls for Giglio Group to be the exclusive supplier of Frecciarossa merchandising, initially on board all Frecciarossa fast trains, and then to extend the service to other fast trainsets.

At the back end, Siav lost 6.2 percent, posting the worst performance on the list.

In New York, the Dow is down 0.7 percent to 38,438.68, the Nasdaq is up 0.1 percent to 17,627.66 while the S&P 500 gives up 0.2 percent to 5,412.60.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0764 from USD1.0845 yesterday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2755 from USD1.2837 Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD82.81 per barrel from USD82.70 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,312.10 an ounce from USD2,323.17 on Tuesday evening.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar opens with the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision, due at 0500 CEST, an hour and a half before Japanese industrial production data.

From Germany, eyes on wholesale prices, coming at 0800 CEST, while, 45 minutes later, it will be the turn of French inflation. Italy's trade balance will be released at 1000 CEST, an hour before the same data for the Eurozone.

In the afternoon, after the Eurogroup meeting at 1200 CEST, the focus will shift to U.S. import and export prices at 1430 CEST, while data on drilling rigs from Baker Hughes will come at 1900 CEST.

Among the companies in the Square of Business, no particular events are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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