(Alliance News) - European indexes close the day in the red on Thursday ahead of Powell's 1800 CEST speech this evening, with the war in the Middle East and higher bond yields prompting more selling in equity markets.
"Today's day is chock full of Fed speakers, but the main event is yet to come," comments Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG. "Should Powell maintain a more cautious tone than his colleagues, markets could seize the opportunity. But if the chairman himself were to take an aggressive stance again, the selling might only intensify towards the end of the week."
Thus, the FTSE Mib closed 1.4 percent in the red at 27,746.82, 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' CAC 40 closed 0.6 percent in the red, London's FTSE 100 finished down 1.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gave up 0.3 percent.
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 leads 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 are only Amplifon, Interpump Group, and Moncler, all between 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent.
At the bottom are Stellantis, down 3.7 percent, Banco BPM and BPER Banca, down 2.9 percent and 2.6 percent.
Oil stocks also suffer, with Saipem down 2.5 percent while Eni gives up 1.2 percent and Tenaris retreats with 1.6 percent.
Italgas is down 1.3 percent after two bullish sessions. The company announced Monday that it had completed the acquisition from 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 retreats 1.2 percent after announcing Thursday the successful 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 closes up 4.0%. Of note, Berenberg initiated a recommendation on the stock with 'buy' and target price at EUR10.00.
Better do only Reply and Seco, up 4.5% and 4.9%.
Banca Popolare di Sondrio gives 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, 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 tops with a 4.6 percent rise, 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 EUR221,012.12.
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--for a countervalue of EUR200,010.00.
eVISO closed up 3.4 percent after reporting that as of today, energy supply contracts have been signed to reseller customers for about 1,000 GWh 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.
Consolidated revenues for the third quarter amounted to EUR12.6 million, up 6.1 percent from EUR11.9 million in the third quarter of 2022.
In New York, the Dow Jones is in the red by 0.1 percent, the S&P is down 0.2 percent while the Nasdaq is down 0.2 percent.
Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0575 against USD1.0530 recorded in Wednesday's European stock close, while the pound is worth USD1.2146 from USD1.2145 on Wednesday evening.
Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD91.21 per barrel from USD91.11 per barrel at Wednesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,965.50 an ounce from USD1,944.55 an ounce on Wednesday evening.
On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, the People's Bank of China's preferred interest rate will be released at 0315 CEST while several UK macros including retail sales are expected at 0800 CEST. At the same time, car registrations in the UK, Italy, Germany and France will be released.
From Germany, the producer price index will also come out at the same time.
In the afternoon, retail sales will come out from Canada, at 1430 CEST.
In Piazza Affari, Clabo and TrenDevice's nine-month results are expected.
By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.
