(Alliance News) - On Thursday, major European stock markets opened in negative territory, except for the London Stock Exchange, as the wait for the ECB decision rises.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is down 0.3 percent to 28,407.88, the Mid-Cap gives up 0.5 percent to 40,874.45, the Small-Cap is in the red 0.1 percent to 26,625.30, while Italy Growth is in the green 0.2 percent to 8,684.28.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.1 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 gives up 0.2 percent, while London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.4 percent.

"Not until the beginning of this week, the expectation for today's European Central Bank meeting was for no rate hike. Today, just hours before the meeting, prices point to a 25 bp hike as the most likely scenario; money markets rate a 68 percent probability for a 25 bp hike," commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"But the data remain negative: those on industrial production in the euro area, released yesterday, appeared quite negative, falling more than 1 percent on a monthly basis and 2 percent on an annual basis. This is another reason why higher rate hike expectations from the ECB failed to stimulate appetite for the EURUSD pair, which sees resistance in the 1.0765/1.070 range. If the ECB raises rates today, EURUSD could move toward the 200-DMA, 1.0825, and the Stoxx 600 could slip below 445, a double bottom."

In Piazza Affari, Hera takes the top spot and rises 1.1 percent, followed by Recordati and Eni, up 0.8 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Off the podium is Terna, up 0.5 percent.

At the bottom, there goes the banking sector, with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena doing worst of all and giving up 2.6 percent, while Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo, and BPER Banca trade down between 2.5 and 2.4 percent.

The latter, together with Intesa Sanpaolo and Homepal, made it known that they have formed a strategic and commercial partnership to create "a real estate operator that will aim to enhance and develop activities in real estate, a sector in which the companies have concluded about 10,000 real estate purchase and sale transactions since launch."

The initial investment by Intesa Sanpaolo and BPER Banca will total EUR15 million, to enhance services and communication.

Iveco Group - in the red by 0.2 percent - announced Wednesday that Anna Tanganelli will assume the role of chief financial officer effective Dec. 1, succeeding Francesco Tanzi who served as CFO during Iveco Group's spin-off and its first year and a half as an independent company.

Tanganelli will leave his post at Iren, which is in the green by 1.1 percent on the Mid, which has let it be known that Giovanni Gazza will be the company's new chief financial officer as of Dec. 1.

On the Mid-Cap, Salcef Group gives up 0.4 percent. On Wednesday morning it reported that group companies recently signed contracts totaling EUR105 million with domestic clients.

El.En. gives up 1.6 percent after announcing Tuesday evening that as of June 30, it reported consolidated revenues of EUR345.6 million up 6.0 percent from EUR326.9 million as of June 30, 2022. Group net income is EUR25.8 million down 9.3% from EUR28.4 million in the first half of 2022.

Tamburi Investment Partners rises 0.4 percent after reporting a pro forma half-year profit at the consolidated level of EUR64.7 million up sharply from EUR24.2 million in the same period last year.

Maire Tecnimont -- in the red by 2.7 percent -- announced Tuesday that its board of directors has approved the issuance of a fixed-rate, unrated Senior Unsecured Sustainability-Linked Non-Convertible Bond for a minimum of EUR120 million and a maximum of EUR200 million.

Seco is in the red by 1.4 percent after half-year results that showed a profit of EUR10.0 million up from EUR6.8 million in the same period last year.

Adjusted net income rises to EUR12.6 million from EUR8.6 million, an increase of more than 46 percent.

Brembo is down 0.5 percent. SGL Carbon and Brembo have agreed to expand the production capacity of the Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes joint venture, a statement announced Tuesday.

The two companies, together with BSCCB itself, have defined the project that will lead the JV to invest about EUR150 million until 2027 to expand production activities by more than 70 percent at its sites in Meitingen, Germany, and Stezzano, Italy.

On the Small-Cap side, Mondo TV -- in the red by 4.7 percent -- disclosed that it closed the first half of the year with a net loss attributable to the group of about EUR1.2 million compared to a profit of about EUR4.3 million in the first half of 2022, and compared to a loss of about EUR69 million as of December 31, 2022.

Value of production is about EUR4.6 million, down 76 percent from EUR19.1 million in the first half of 2022 as a result, mainly, of lower sales already included in the new business plan and the exit of Mondo TV Studios from the scope.

SAES Getters is flat at the opening after gaining more than 13 percent on Wednesday. The company reported half-year consolidated revenues of EUR122.3 million, up 1.7 percent from EUR120.2 million in the first half of 2022.

Consolidated gross industrial profit stood at EUR53.5 million, up 0.5% from EUR53.2 million as of June 30, 2022

In addition, the company received a favorable opinion from the Federal Trade Commission on the transaction to sell the Nitinol business for medical applications to the U.S. company Resonetics.

The board of directors of Caleffi -- in the red by 1.2 percent -- on Wednesday reported that the company in the first half of the year reported a profit of EUR200,000 from EUR700,000 related to the same period in 2022.

As of June 30, turnover stood at EUR27.1 million from EUR25.3 million a year earlier.

Among SMEs, Franchetti - in the green by 1.8 percent - reported a net profit of EUR171,268 in the first half from EUR148,690 in the same period last year.

Sales revenue as of June 30 amounted to EUR2.2 million from EUR1.4 million, up 55 percent a year earlier.

Finance.tech opens flat at EUR0.78 per share, after it closed higher by 18% following Tuesday's approval of its half-year report as of June 30, which shows a strong growth trend, with net income up triple digits to EUR804,464 from EUR330,588 in the first half of 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei gave up 0.2 percent to 32,706.52, the Hang Seng was in the green by 0.3 percent 18,070.58, and the Shanghai Composite picked up 0.1 percent to 3,126.55.

In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed in the red 0.2 percent at 34,575.53, the S&P finished up 0.1 percent at 4,467.44, while the Nasdaq closed in the green 0.3 percent at 13,813.59.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0737 against USD1.0743 in Wednesday's European equities close, while the pound was instead worth USD1.2487 from USD1.2499 on Wednesdayevening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD92.55 per barrel versus USD92.14 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,926.65 an ounce from USD1,935.05 an ounce Wednesday evening.

On Thursday's economic calendar at 0830 CEST the Swiss producer price index for August is released.

At 1415 CEST it is the ECB's turn with monetary policy statements and interest rate decisions. At 1430 CEST there will be a press conference.

Overseas, at 1430 CEST are data on unemployment claims from the US, the producer price index and retail sales.

At Piazza Affari, the half-year results of Bialetti Industrie, I Grandi Viaggi, Integrade System Credit Consulting Fintech, Italian Wine Brands, LVenture, Next Re, Sesa and Softec are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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