Indices expected to rise; focus on PMIs

(Alliance News) – Piazza Affari is expected to rise ahead of Monday’s start of trading that will open Europe’s first full week of 2025 trading.

The FTSE Mib is given up 167.5 points or 0.5 percent by IG futures after closing down 0.7 percent at 34,127.62 Friday.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 is given down 6.6 points or 0.1 percent, Paris’ CAC 40 is expected up 46.4 points or 0.6 percent, and Frankfurt’s DAX 40 is indicated up 64.1 points or 0.3 percent.

In Milan on Friday evening, the Mid-Cap closed 0.6 percent in the red at 47,715.99, the Small-Cap gave up 0.2 percent to 28,465.57, and Italy Growth finished fractionally lower at 7,947.22.

On Piazza Affari’s largest-capitalization list, only four stocks were bullish Friday, with Saipem doing best of all, up 2.3 percent with more than 39 million changed hands.

Leonardo, up 0.5 percent, and Azimut, up 0.2 percent, also did well.

Eni–up fractionally–reported Friday that it had bought back 3.9 million of its own ordinary shares for a total value of EUR50.0 million as part of its buyback program.

Stellantis hurt, down 3.5 percent. 2024 closed with just over 1.5 million sales, stable compared to 2023 but 19% lower than 2019: almost 360,000 registrations missing.

Stellantis suffering more than the others: in 2024, registrations dropped 10 percent to 454,000 units, with market share down from 32 percent to 29 percent. Fiat, in particular, lost 41 percent, surpassed by Dacia and Renault.

In contrast, Asian groups advanced, with Toyota up 25 percent and Kia and MG each up 32 percent. MG, led by China’s SAIC, is spearheading the Chinese expansion, with BYD showing signs of rapid growth while starting from minimal shares.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena gave up 0.9 percent after announcing that, in line with the funding plan and having received approval from the European Central Bank, it will exercise the full early redemption option on Jan. 22 for its EUR400.0 million denominated Tier 2 subordinated bond with an 8.0 percent coupon.

The bonds, fully placed to institutional investors, will be repaid in full at par, together with any accrued and unpaid interest on the early redemption date.

At the bottom of the main list was Campari, down 5.2%. The stock was weighed down by U.S. general surgeon Vivek Murthy’s statement calling for alcoholic beverage labels to include cancer warnings.

On the Mid-Cap, at the top of the list, MAIRE closed up 1.7 percent, in its second consecutive bullish session. The company announced Thursday that its subsidiary Nextchem has signed a new EUR125 million loan, 70% of the amount of which is backed by SACE Spa’s Archimede Guarantee, strengthening its financial capacity to support investments in technological innovation and R&D.

Among the bullish performers, Ariston Holding closed up 1.3 percent, followed by Moltiply Group, up 1.2 percent.

Salvatore Ferragamo gave up 3.0%, with nearly 400,000 shares traded.

At the bottom, Philogen retreated 4.2% and recorded the steepest decline on the list.

Among small-cap companies, EPH flew, up 18%, followed by Eurotech, up 15%.

On the other side of the list, Seri Industrial left 4.1 percent on the parterre, as did I Grandi Viaggi.

Mondo TV dropped 3.2 percent after applying to CLG Capital for the subscription of the fourth tranche of the convertible bond underwritten by the latter.

The tranche concerns the subscription of 10 bonds of EUR125,000 each. After this tranche, two more will remain to be issued, for a maximum of 16 more bonds.

“Although in a general context of difficulties, the company confirms that negotiations to seek ordinary forms of financing, alternative to the convertible bond plan, are actively continuing. To date, these negotiations have not yet materialized, but Mondo TV continues to be committed to finding solutions that can avoid recourse to the subsequent tranches of the convertible bond and limit the dilutive effect resulting from the conversion of the tranches already exercised,” the company said.

On the alternative capital market in Piazza Affari, Edgelab closed up 43 percent, followed by Askoll Eva, up 35 percent.

Among the bearers, Aatech lost 13 percent while High Quality Food dropped 6.7 percent.

GT Talent Group – in the red by 14 percent – announced that it has completed the accelerated bookbuilding procedure of 608,500 ordinary shares. The shares were subscribed by qualified investors at a price of EUR1.80 each, for a total value of EUR1.1 million.

The proceeds from the placement of the new shares will enable the group to meet its current liquidity needs and, partially, for future liquidity needs, with the understanding that the group’s total needs for the 2025 financial year have been estimated by the board of directors at EUR1.5 million.

Worse than all did Pharmacosmo, in the red by 24 percent.

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 0.5 percent to 19,662.46.

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 USD1.3020 against USD1.0286 on Friday in closing European equities. The pound is worth USD1.2449 from USD1.2409 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD76.33 per barrel from USD76.47 per barrel at Friday’s close. Gold trades at USD2,632.54 an ounce from USD2,652.99 an ounce Friday evening.

The macroeconomic calendar includes PMIs of the major European and Eurozone economies in the morning while, for the euro area, inflation will also arrive, at 1000 CET, and, at 1030 CET, the Sentix investor confidence index will be released.

In the afternoon, at 1400 CET, the German inflation figure will be released and, at 1500 CET, eyes will be 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.

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

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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