(Alliance News) - European stock markets are positioned for an upward opening Thursday as investors prepare for the Bank of England's decision to hold rates steady at 5.25 percent before easing monetary policy starting in August.

The decision comes on the heels of data indicating a decline in UK inflation and ahead of the July 4 election.

Also on the subject of central banks, the Swiss National Bank is also scheduled to meet today, with markets expecting a 25 basis point rate cut to 1.25 percent.

On the data front, producer prices in Germany fell 2.2 percent year-on-year in May, less than the previous month's 3.3 percent drop and compared to market forecasts of a 2.0 percent drop. The data were released Thursday by Destatis.

The FTSE Mib-after closing Wednesday down 0.3 percent to 33,220.31-advances 82.50 points.

London's FTSE 100 is advancing 19.50 points, Paris' CAC 40 is advancing 27.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is picking up 71.70 points.

Among the smaller lists on Wednesday evening, the Mid-Cap fell 0.8 percent to 46,843.52, the Small-Cap lost 0.1 percent to 28,683.24, and Italy Growth gained 0.5 percent to 8,110.56.

On the blue-chip list last night, good session for Eni, which rose 0.8 percent, following up on the previous two up sessions.

Enel, on the other hand, gave up 0.8 percent. Enel subsidiary Enel Finance International announced Wednesday that it has launched a multi-tranche "Sustainability-Linked Bond" aimed at institutional investors in the U.S. and international markets for a total amount of USD2 billion. The issue, which is guaranteed by Enel, has received oversubscribed applications about three times, totaling total orders of about USD5.6 billion. Proceeds from the issue are expected to be used to finance the group's ordinary needs, including refinancing maturing debt.

Banks contrasted, with Monte dei Paschi and BPM up 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, while Mediolanum gave up 1.2 percent and UniCredit lost 0.1 percent.

Campari--declining 1.2%--on Tuesday announced that it had successfully placed an unrated 7-year bond aimed at institutional investors only. The offering concerns a bond that has a total nominal amount of EUR220 million and matures on June 25, 2031, and pays a fixed annual coupon of 4.256 percent. The company let it be known that the bonds will be issued at an issue price equal to 100 percent of par value.

On the mid-cap, step backward for Fincantieri, which gave up 2.2 percent after a 0.5 percent rise on the eve. The stock had previously come from seven sessions in a row that closed higher.

Moltiply Group, on the other hand, lost 3.7 percent to EUR34.10 per share on the heels of eve's 0.3 percent decline.

Saras lost 0.3% to EUR1.6210 per share. After taking over the Moratti stake, Vitol launched a takeover bid for the remaining shares--about 55 percent--of Saras not yet held. As the two companies disclosed Tuesday, Vitol will offer EUR1.60 for each of the 518.5 million shares in Saras, for a maximum outlay that could reach EUR532.9 million.

Maire -- down 0.4 percent -- stopped benefiting from Tuesday's news about subsidiary Kinetics Technology, which was awarded by Holborn Europa Raffinerie GmbH an EPC project to build a vegetable oil hydrogenation plant within the Holborn refinery in Hamburg, Germany. The plant, which will be operational in early 2027, includes the pretreatment unit, HVO unit and interconnection infrastructure with existing plants. The value of the contract is about USD400 million.

On the Small-Cap, Giglio Group closed flat at EUR0.36 per share.

Sogefi rose 13 percent, in position for its third bullish session. The company reported that the board of directors has resolved to propose to the July 18 shareholders' meeting to distribute an extraordinary unit dividend of EUR0.923, before withholding taxes, for each of the outstanding shares with the exclusion of treasury shares held on the record date, for a total estimated amount of EUR110 million.

Aedes closed unchanged at EUR0.25, after two sessions in which it gained about 14 percent.

Among SMEs, boost on Comal, which moves up 5.9 percent, on its third bullish session.

ATON Green Storage advances 5.3%, pointing to its 12th daily bullish candle.

At the tail end, 4AIM Sicaf closed 5.6 percent in the red.

Among Asian exchanges, the NIkkei rallied 0.2 percent, the Shanghai Composite contracted 0.3 percent, and the Hang Seng is giving up 0.6 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0732 from USD1.0748 on Wednesday in European equities close while the pound is worth USD1.2707 from USD1.2728 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude trades at USD85.06 per barrel from USD85.61 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,342.70 an ounce from USD2,327.10 last night.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar features the European Central Bank's monthly report at 1000 CEST, while the hottest moment of the day is the Bank of England's decision at 1300 CEST. At 1600 CEST, Eurozone consumer confidence will be released.

At 1430 CEST, overseas, room for jobless claims and housing market data. At 1700 CEST, crude oil stocks and EIA refinery number data will be released. At 2230 CEST, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet will be released.

Among the companies in the business square, no special events are planned.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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