(Alliance News) - On Friday, Piazza Affari is expected to open the last session of the year down, according to IG futures indications, followed by other major European bourses on another uninspiring day on the macro front.

Thus, futures give the FTSE Mib down 92.5 points or down 0.4 percent, after closing Thursday in the green 1.2 percent to 24,056.55.

Paris' CAC 40 is expected down 34.5 points or 0.5 percent, as is Frankfurt's DAX 40 down 62.5 points or 0.4 percent, while London's FTSE 100 is expected to be down 24.2 points or 0.3 percent.

Among the smaller lists in Milan on Thursday, the Mid-Cap closed up 1.4 percent to 39,801.85, the Small-Cap up 0.7 percent to 27,727.38 while the Italy Growth closed up 0.7 percent to 9,244.54.

On the main list of Piazza Affari, DiaSorin finished up 4.1 percent after being in the red in the previous two sessions.

Good session also for Telecom Italia, which made a bullish move of 2.9 percent on the heels of eve's gain, albeit with 0.2 percent.

Eni--green by 0.6 percent--reported Thursday that Plenitude, through its U.S. subsidiary Eni New Energy US, has acquired the 81 MW Kellam photovoltaic plant located in North Texas, 50 miles from the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan complex. The plant, divested from Hanwha Qcells USA, joins other assets in Texas and the rest of the United States in Plenitude's portfolio, which with this transaction reaches an installed capacity of 878 MW in the U.S. market. The plant is built on more than 150 hectares of land and the energy produced will be sold to a local power company.

UniCredit, on the other hand, closed 0.1 percent negative after announcing Thursday that it had concluded a new securitization transaction of a portfolio of consumer loans originated by the bank with a total size of about EUR850 million in recent days. Senior and mezzanine tranches of the notes issued by the securitization vehicle were purchased by the European Investment Bank for a total value of EUR700 million and by the European Investment Fund for an additional EUR50 million against UniCredit's commitment to provide additional credit of an equal amount over the next 36 months to Italian small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-cap companies.

Among the few that traded the entire session down, Buzzi Unicem recovered on the close, rising 0.1 percent, after trading up 0.6 percent on the eve of the session.

In the cadet segment, Tinexta closed up 5.7 percent. The stock showed unusually high volume, with more than 135,000 pieces traded against a three-month average of 45,000. made known Wednesday of the signing of a binding agreement to acquire a 20 percent stake in Defence Tech Holding Benefit Company through a wholly owned vehicle.

Seco, on the other hand, rose 4.4 percent, rearing its head again after two bearish sessions.

Juventus FC rose 4.1 percent after reporting that the shareholders' meeting approved the financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2022, which closed with a loss for the year of EUR238.1 million ispared to a loss of EUR226.4 million in fiscal year 2020-21. The loss was covered by use of the share premium reserve. The meeting also viewed the consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2022, which showed a loss of EUR239.3 million from the EUR226.8 million loss in fiscal year 2020-21.

Among the few bearish performers, Antares gave up 1.5 percent, following its 1.1 percent decline on the eve of the meeting.

On the Small-Cap, PLC closed 3.3 percent higher. It is mentioned that the company last week approved the 2023-2027 business plan in which it forecasts EUR6.0 million in dividends and a gradually growing Ebitda driven by an increase in revenues - 2x to 2027 vs. 2023 - and a major scale effect of overhead costs, with end-of-plan targets of around EUR12-14 million thanks to the contribution of all business areas.

Services Italy, on the other hand, rose 7.6 percent, breaking a four-session bearish trend.

Among the bearish, Netweek, recovered from the red seen during most of the session closing instead flat after the 2.6 percent gain in the previous session. The stock sits with price at EUR0.0380.

Itway--down 1.9 percent--reported Wednesday that subsidiary 4Science has been admitted to the Vienna Stock Exchange, where it makes its debut today. It has a market capitalization of EUR28.0 million, or a price per share of EUR4.0.

Among SMEs, Defence Tech Holding rose 14 percent, easily taking the lead of the list.

Alfonsino, on the other hand, rose 8.4 percent. High trading volume is notable for this stock, with 60,000 traded compared to a three-month average of about 12,400.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in fractional green at 26,094.50, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5 percent to 3,089.26 and the Hang Seng rose 0.6 percent to 19,855.17.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones closed in the green 1.1 percent to 33,220.80, the S&P gained 1.8 percent to 3,849.28, and the Nasdaq picked up 2.6 percent to 10,478.09.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0646 versus USD1.0665 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2043 from USD1.2060 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD84.06 per barrel from USD83.20 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,827.35 an ounce from USD1,814.70 an ounce on Wednesday evening.

On Friday's economic calendar, Spain's inflation figure will arrive at 0900 CET.

In the afternoon, from the US, space will be given to the Baker Hughes report at 1900 CET while, at 2130 CET, as usual on Friday, will come the COT Report.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, no particular announcements are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.