(Alliance News) - Mid-day Monday, the major Eurozone indexes are in positive territory following the release of PMI data and waiting to hear the inflation figure.
Buying prevails in Piazza Affari, which is back above 34,200, while among European bourses, London is without momentum.
The FTSE Mib is up 0.4 percent to 34,259.69, Mid-Cap is up 0.3 percent to 47,873.17, Small-Cap is up 0.3 percent to 28,534.64, and Italy Growth gains 0.4 percent to 7,978.71.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is down 0.1 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.6 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gains 0.4 percent.
On the macroeconomic front, Italy's tertiary sector rebounded at the end of the year, recovering from November's contraction, S&P Global reported Monday.
However, new orders fell for the second consecutive month, albeit by a small amount. Companies continued to face strong cost pressures, with the largest increases in the past five months, leading to higher selling prices. Despite this, confidence for 2024 improved, with increased hiring.
HCOB's services PMI for Italy rose to 50.7 points in December from 49.2 in November, indicating modest expansion.
In Germany, the services PMI index improved to 51.2 points in December from 49.3 points in November, while the composite PMI index rose to 48.0 points in December from 47.2 points in November.
In France, the Hamburg Commercial Bank's services PMI index rose to 49.3 points in December from 46.9 points in November, while the composite PMI rose to 47.5 in December from November's 10-month low of 45.9.
Finally, the Eurozone's private sector remained in negative territory, with the composite PMI index rising to 49.6 points in December from 48.3 points in November, while the services PMI rose to a two-month high of 51.6 points in December from 49.5 points in November, surpassing the preliminary estimate of 51.4.
On Piazza Affari's largest-capitalization list at mid-session, STMicroelectronics did best of all, rising 4.0 percent and rebounding after recent declines.
Also doing well are Amplifon, up 3.2%, and Stellantis, up 1.5%.
Iveco Group--green by 1.2%--reported that ownership of Magirus GmbH and its firefighting subsidiaries has been transferred to Mutares SE & Co. KGaA under the terms of the agreement described in March last year.
Mediobanca gains 1.0% at the turnaround. Mediobanca Premier launched the Amundi Eltif Agritaly Pir III Lux fund, focused on the Italian agribusiness sector, which offers tax benefits such as exemption from capital gains and inheritance taxes if regulations are met.
This fund, operational from 2021 and with assets under management of EUR125 million by mid-2024, has already supported realities such as the Miscusi and Pistacchio chains through direct investments.
Italian agribusiness, valued at EUR335 billion, offers ample opportunities, particularly in private markets, where many companies are not listed. The initiative is strategic for Mediobanca, which aims to strengthen its asset management platform by 2026.
Banking stocks are doing well, with Intesa Sanpaolo up 0.3 percent, Banca Popolare di Sondrio in the green by 0.4 as well as UniCredit, Banca Mediolanum advances 0.7 percent, Banco BPM gains 0.8 percent, and BPER Banca rises 0.9 percent.
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is the best stock in the sector, in the green by 2.0%. As Milano Finanza reported Monday, for the year just ended, the estimate is for a pre-tax profit of more than EUR1.3 billion and dividends of more than EUR950 million, with a payout ratio increased from 50% to 75%.
Among the bearers were utility, energy and oil stocks, with Hera down 1.0 percent, Italgas down 0.7 percent and Saipem retreating 0.6 percent after closing the last two sessions at the top.
At the bottom, Leonardo gives up 2.1%, with over 1.2 million pieces changed hands.
On the Mid-Cap, at the turnaround, Technoprobe rises 4.5 percent and records the sharpest rise.
At the bottom, Juventus FC drops 6.1% after losing to AC Milan in the Italian Super Cup semifinal, thus forgoing a higher prize from the competition.
Philogen rises 3.0 percent. Shortly before Christmas, the company announced that it had approved a new share buyback plan that may target a maximum of 250,000 shares and a maximum outlay of EUR5 million.
Tinexta, in the green by 1.8 percent, and Webuild, up 1.6 percent, did well.
On the Small-Cap, Netweek gives up 9.1 percent and remains at the bottom of the list.
Fine Conafi, in the green by 5.7%, albeit with only 6,000 shares traded.
Trading suspended for EPH and Eurotech, with theoretical rises of 19% and 14%, respectively...
On the Italian stock exchange's alternative capital market, Edgelab's good momentum continues, up 9.1% at mid-session.
Also doing well is Cloudia Research, up 10.9 percent, while Star7 does worse than all, complicit with a 6.7 percent drop.
Trading suspended for Monnalisa and Farmacosmo, with theoretical rises of 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively, and Askoll Eva, with theoretical price down 11 percent from Friday's session.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed Monday down 1.5 percent to 39,307.05, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.1 percent to 3,206.92 and the Hang Seng gave up 0.4 percent to 19,688.29.
In New York on Friday, the Dow closed up 0.8 percent to 42,732.13, the Nasdaq gained 1.8 percent to 19,621.68 while the S&P 500 finished up 1.3 percent to 5,942.47.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.3036 against USD1.0286 in Friday's European equities close. The pound is worth USD1.2466 from USD1.2409 on Friday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD76.51 per barrel from USD76.47 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold trades at USD2,644.21 an ounce from USD2,652.99 an ounce Friday evening.
The macroeconomic calendar has Germany's inflation figure at 1400 CET in the afternoon and, at 1500 CET, eyes on business confidence in Spain.
From the U.S., at 1545 CET, focus on services and composite PMIs while, following that, it closes at 1600 CET with the report on factory orders.
By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter
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