(Alliance News) - European stock markets on Friday-according to the futures market-are expected to open lower, with interest rate and geopolitical concerns continuing to loom over markets.

Among macro data, new surveys painted a gloomy picture for UK retailers, with consumer confidence fell sharply in October. The GfK index of consumer confidence contracted nine points to minus 30 October, bringing it back to the level last seen in July last year. This comes at a time when uncertainties posed by the conflict in the Middle East are added to accelerating energy, fuel and mortgage costs.

Producer prices in Germany fell 14.7 percent year-on-year in September, compared with market forecasts of a 14.2 percent drop and after a 12.6 percent drop in August. The data were released Friday by Destatis. It was the third consecutive month of decline and the fastest pace since data collection began.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, marks a contraction of 312.00 points, after closing 1.4 percent in the red at 27,746.82 last night.

Among the smaller listings, the Mid-Cap rose 0.4 percent to 38,589.51, the Small-Cap gave up 0.5 percent to 24,950.76, while Italy Growth closed down 0.6 percent to 7,893.58.

In Europe, Paris's CAC 40 is giving up 76.60 points, London's FTSE 100 is giving up 48.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is retreating 145.50 points.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Nexi gave up 0.8 percent after rumors Wednesday from Bloomberg news agency about a possible interest in the Italian company by private equity fund CVC capital.

Recordati led the bullish few with a 1.4 percent gain. The company announced Monday the appointment of Milan Zdravkovic as Executive Vice President of Research & Development.

Among the few stocks in the green were only Amplifon, Interpump Group, and Moncler, all between 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent.

At the bottom were Stellantis, down 3.7 percent, Banco BPM and BPER Banca, down 2.9 percent and 2.6 percent.

Oil stocks also suffered, with Saipem down 2.5 percent while Eni gave up 1.2 percent and Tenaris slipped 1.6 percent.

Italgas is down 1.3 percent after two bullish sessions. The company announced Monday that it had completed the acquisition from the Veolia Environnement group of the business unit to which the concessions held in Italy in the water sector belong. For the purchase, the company will be able to pay the Veolia group a total of up to EUR115 million -- in terms of equity value --, partly contingent on the achievement of certain targets of the operating companies.

On the Mid-Cap, Piaggio & C. closed 2.3 percent in the red after announcing Thursday that it had signed a contract with Foton Motor Group in Beijing for the joint development of a new range of electric-powered Porters.

"Piaggio's range of commercial vehicles will thus expand with 2 new four-wheel electric-powered variants, designed to best meet the specific needs of intra-city mobility, thanks to the combination of compact dimensions combined with a load capacity of at least one ton, which is particularly high for its category," the company explained in a note.

Italmobiliare retreated 1.2 percent after announcing Thursday the sale of Florence InvestCo Srl to Permira.

Florence InvestCo, a company in which Italmobiliare held a 13.98 percent equity stake, is the majority shareholder of Gruppo Florence Spa.

Technogym closed up 4.0%. Of note, Berenberg initiated a recommendation on the stock with 'buy' and target price at EUR10.00.

Better did only Reply and Seco, up 4.5% and 4.9%.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio gave up 1.1 percent. On Tuesday it announced that it successfully placed a new covered bond issue with institutional investors for a benchmark amount of EUR500 million and 5-year term. The placement was made under the EUR5 billion covered bond program, which is backed entirely by residential mortgages.

Admission to the scheme, which takes effect as early as the 2022 tax period, was preceded by a review by the Internal Revenue Service of the adequacy of the tax governance adopted by the company and the internal control system for the detection, measurement, management and control of tax risk, called the Tax Control Framework.

On the Small-Cap, Fidia closed on top with a 4.6 percent gain, followed by Civitanavi Systems with 2.9 percent and KME Group, in the green by 2.5 percent.

TXT e-solutions--up 1.7 percent--reported Thursday that it purchased 13,539 of its own shares between Oct. 2 and Oct. 6. The shares were purchased at an average price of EUR16.32 for a total value of about EUR221,000.

Among SMEs, AATech closed in the red by 0.4 percent after resolving a EUR2.8 million capital increase.

The board of directors also granted powers to CEO Alessandro Andreozzi to subscribe for 5,958 class C3 shares of the investee Termo Spa--received from the aucap--with a countervalue of EUR200,010.00.

eVISO closed up 3.4 percent after reporting that energy supply contracts to reseller customers for about 1,000 GWh have been signed as of today, compared to the 700 GWh reported as of December 2022, for estimated annual sales of about EUR222 million.

Racing Force -- in the red by 0.2 percent -- reported on Thursday consolidated sales figures for the first nine months of the year in which revenues amounted to EUR49.8 million, up 9.6 percent from EUR45.5 million in the same period last year. Third-quarter consolidated revenues were EUR12.6 million, up 6.1 percent from EUR11.9 million in the third quarter of 2022.

In New York overnight Europe, the Dow Jones closed 0.8 percent in the red, the S&P down 0.9 percent while the Nasdaq left 1.0 percent on the parterre.

Among the Asian exchanges, the Hang Seng is contracting 0.7 percent, the Nikkei has given up 0.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite is posting a 0.9 percent red.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0574 against USD1.0575 recorded at Thursday's European stock close, while the pound is worth USD1.2115 from USD1.2146 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD93.21 per barrel from USD91.21 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,979.67 an ounce from USD1,965.50 an ounce last night.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, retail sales will come out of Canada in the afternoon, at 1430 CEST.

In Piazza Affari, Clabo and TrenDevice's nine-month results are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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