European markets positive; BPER leads the gains, TIM trails

(Alliance News) - On Thursday, at the opening, European indices are moving in line with IG futures, with Piazza Affari up above 38,500 and Frankfurt posting the biggest gains among the Old Continent's stock exchanges.

This week's Federal Reserve meeting went as expected.

"It was a restrictive meeting, but in line with expectations," commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"The Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected, signaling that it is in no hurry to cut them before gathering more data to assess the actual impact of the tariff policy."

The Bank of England's interest rate decision is also expected later today.

As a result, the FTSE Mib is up 0.6% at 38,550.47, the Mid-Cap is up 0.1% at 51,959.77, the Small-Cap is up 0.2% at 29,840.80, while the Italy Growth is up 0.1% at 7,743.60.

The FTSE 100 in London is up 0.2%, the CAC 40 in Paris is up 0.4%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt is up 0.8%.

On the macroeconomic front, Germany's trade surplus rose to EUR 21.1 billion in March from a revised EUR 18.0 billion in February, exceeding forecasts of EUR 19.1 billion.

In the same month, German industrial production rose 3.0% month-on-month, rebounding from a 1.3% decline in the previous month and exceeding market expectations of a 0.8% increase.

Returning to Milan, BPER Banca led the blue chip index at the opening after announcing that it had closed the first quarter with a profit of EUR 451.5 million, down from EUR 466.3 million as of March 31, 2023.

Net interest income in the first three months amounted to EUR 811.9 million, down from EUR 843.6 million in 2024, while net commission income amounted to EUR 541.1 million, up from EUR 498.7 million.

With regard to the public exchange offer on Banca Popolare di Sondrio, BPER announced that it had received authorization from IVASS to hold, upon successful completion of the transaction, a qualifying holding of more than 30% in the share capital of Arca Vita.

BPER is up 5.2%, while PopSondrio is up 4.1%.

Nexi - down 0.2% - closed the first quarter with revenues of EUR 810.2 million, up 3.7% compared to EUR 781.2 million in the same period of 2024.

Prysmian - up 0.7% - closed the first quarter of the year with a group net profit of EUR 150 million, compared to EUR 185 million as of March 31, 2024.

In the first three months, revenues stood at EUR 4.77 billion, up from EUR 3.69 billion in the same period last year.

STMicroelectronics has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy to develop the Catania factory, with an investment plan of EUR5 billion between 2023 and 2037. STM is up 2.7%.

Mediobanca performed well, up 0.9% to EUR19.02, reaching a new annual high.

Banco BPM - up 1.3% - closed the first quarter with a net profit of EUR 510.7 million, up 38% compared to EUR 370.2 million in the same period last year and more than double the fourth quarter of 2024.

At the bottom of the main index at the start of trading was TIM, down 4.3%. The company closed the first quarter with total revenues of EUR 3.3 billion, up from EUR 3.2 billion as of March 31, 2024, and confirmed its guidance for 2025.

On the Mid-Cap market, Ariston Holding rose 5.3% after announcing on Wednesday that it had closed the first quarter with net revenues of EUR 648.2 million, up from EUR 634.7 million as of March 31, 2024. Adjusted EBITDA stood at EUR 64.1 million, up from EUR 55.8 million in the same period of 2024.

Banca Ifis announced that it had obtained Consob approval for the offer document relating to the public exchange offer for all the shares of illimity Bank, announced on January 8. The stock fell 0.2%, while illimity gained 0.3% on the Small-Cap index.

At the bottom of the second tier, Juventus fell 3.8%.

On the Small-Cap index, among the stocks with the highest trading value, Safilo Group rose 9.3% after closing the first quarter with net sales of EUR 285.8 million, up 3.1% compared to EUR 277.2 million in the first quarter of 2024, with growth of 2.2% at constant exchange rates.

Cellularline gained 2.3% after closing the quarter with a net loss of EUR 800,000, an improvement on the EUR 2.6 million loss recorded on March 31, 2024. The company also reported adjusted net income of EUR 400,000 for the three months, compared with an adjusted net loss of EUR 1.3 million.

Somec rose 3.5% after announcing that its US subsidiary Fabbrica, part of the Horizons division, had been awarded a contract worth approximately USD 30 million to construct the architectural facades of the new Nokia H2 building in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

At the bottom of the table, Risanamento fell 7.7% after reporting a consolidated net loss of EUR 47.5 million for 2024, worse than the EUR 10.6 million loss in the previous year.

Among SMEs, Redelfi rose 0.9% with the highest trading volume in the segment at the opening, supported by strong buying.

Doxee posted a double-digit gain, advancing 16% with nearly 40,000 shares traded.

IDNTT, unchanged at EUR 2.20, closed the 2024 financial year with a net profit of EUR 1.2 million, down from EUR 1.7 million in the previous year. No dividend is expected, and the profit will be carried forward in full.

Omer gained 0.5% after announcing the start of operations on a contract received from the CAF group for the "Ligne RER - B" project in Paris, developed in consortium with Alstom. The order will contribute between 1% and 2% to the portfolio, against a backlog of EUR 164 million as of December 31, 2024.

At the bottom of the alternative listing, Tenax International fell 5.6% after reporting preliminary revenues of EUR 4.0 million in the first quarter, equal to 18% of revenues for the whole of 2024, which stood at EUR 21.7 million.

In New York on Wednesday evening, the Dow closed up 0.7% at 41,113.97, the Nasdaq advanced 0.3% to 17,738.16, while the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 5,631.28.

In Asia, the Nikkei ended up 0.4%, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng rose 0.3%.

Among currencies, the euro traded at USD 1.1289 from USD 1.1347 on Wednesday evening, while the pound traded at USD 1.3282 from USD 1.3346 on Wednesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD 61.48 per barrel from USD 62.64 per barrel yesterday evening, while gold traded at USD 3,353.09 from USD 3,404.10 per ounce yesterday evening.

Thursday's macroeconomic calendar includes the UK mortgage rate at 1100 CEST, followed at 1140 CEST by a speech by Bundesbank member Balz.

At 1:00 p.m. CEST, the Bank of England will announce its interest rate decision, the key event of the day, followed by a press conference with Governor Andrew Bailey at 3:15 p.m. CEST.

In the afternoon, at 2:30 p.m. CEST, data on weekly unemployment claims, both initial and continuing, will be released in the US.

At 4:00 p.m. CEST, wholesale sales in the US will be published.

Among the companies listed on the Italian stock exchange, the quarterly results of Banca Mediolanum, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Brembo, Campari, Enel, Leonardo, Mediobanca, Poste Italiane, Recordati, and Snam are expected, among others.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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