(Alliance News) - The Mib on Wednesday is marking a bullish trend that is taking it to the 32,000 mark, - after narrowly breaking through it - reaching new multi-year highs and doing better than its European counterparts, as investors assess a new set of corporate results and await the release of FOMC minutes expected later today.
On the Russian-Ukrainian conflict front, the EU agreed Wednesday on a 13th round of sanctions against Russia on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, said Belgium, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency.
A draft proposal seen earlier by AFP included export restrictions on three mainland Chinese companies for supplying the Russian military and the blacklisting of North Korea's defense minister for supplying missiles to Moscow.
The FTSE Mib, therefore, trades up 0.8 percent at 31,968.66 after touching a high at 32,002.44.
In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.3 percent, London's FTSE 100 is giving up 0.8 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is advancing 0.4 percent.
The Mid-Cap is in the green 0.1 percent to 45,408.88, the Small-Cap is advancing 0.6 percent to 27,691.01, while Italy Growth is in the red 0.1 percent to 8,112.61.
On the Mib, good session for Mediobanca, which leads the price up 3.5% to EUR12.26, pointing to its fifth bullish daily candle.
Deutsche Bank raised its target price for Monte dei Paschi, with price to EUR5.10 from EUR4.40. The stock, up 3.7 percent, is currently priced at EUR3.57 per share.
Enel -- in the green by 0.5 percent -- announced Tuesday that it has successfully launched on the European market the issuance of a EUR900 million non-convertible, subordinated hybrid perpetual bond with a euro denomination to institutional investors. The bond has been oversubscribed more than 3 times, totaling orders of more than EUR3 billion.
The best-performer is Iveco, which is up 5.2 percent and increasing assets since the beginning of the year to more than 36 percent.
A2A -- in the red by 0.6 percent -- reported Tuesday that its board of directors reviewed preliminary consolidated results for fiscal year 2023, which closed with Ebitda of EUR1.97 billion, up 32 percent from EUR1.50 billion in 2022. Ordinary Ebitda, i.e., net of extraordinary items recorded in the period, stood at EUR1.93 billion up 30 percent from FY2022 when it was EUR1.49 billion.
On the Mid-Cap, boost on Salvatore Ferragamo, which closed ahead 1.1 percent at EUR12.87 per share, rearing its head after two bearish sessions.
Maire Tecnimont -- ahead 3.2% -- announced Wednesday that it has been awarded an EPC contract by Eni Spa to build a hydrogen production plant at Eni's Livorno refinery. The total value of the contract is EUR123 million and the project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
Banca Ifis--also among the best in the money with 2.4 percent--reported on Tuesday evening that it had completed the placement of a senior preferred unsecured bond issue under its EMTN issue program in the amount of EUR400 million. The transaction was targeted at institutional investors.
Technoprobe is giving up 8.5 percent instead, heading for a third bearish session.
On the Small-Cap, Giglio Group confirms the good form seen since the bell rang, bringing the price ahead 3.0 percent to EUR0.44 per share, after a 2.3 percent loss on the eve of the session.
Also doing well is Cellularline, which scores a plus 3.9% with new price at EUR2.91 per share, in its third bullish session.
Leading the way, however, is Beewize, which leads the way with more than 11 percent, on its fourth bullish session.
Among the bearish performers, in the rear ranks is Italian Exhibition Group, which is giving up 2.3 percent on the heels of its red eve closed with the same bearish percentage.
Among the SMBs, International Care Company is off to a good start, leading the price ahead 5.6 percent heading for the third session to close on the bullish side.
Also doing well is Health Italia, which moves bullish by 4.8 percent to EUR1.42 per share.
Eles - up 1.5 percent - reported Tuesday that its board of directors reviewed its pre-consolidated sales revenue figures for 2023, which were found to be EUR32.8 million, up 26 percent from EUR26.1 million in 2022.
On a negative note, in a still uneventful list, H-Farm is giving up more than 11 percent to EUR0.1150, after eve's all-time double-digit gain of 10 percent.
In New York on the European night, the Dow closed down 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq gave up 0.9 percent, and the S&P slipped 0.6 percent.
Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0808 against USD1.0815 recorded in Tuesday's European stock close, while the pound was worth USD1.2617 from USD1.2645 Tuesday night.
Brent crude is worth USD81.85 per barrel versus USD82.36 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,030.48 an ounce from USD2,027.37 an ounce Tuesday night.
On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1300 CET from the US coming up is the mortgage report, followed at 1400 CET by a speech by FOMC's Bostic, while at 2000 CET FOMC minutes will be released.
At 2230 CET coming up on weekly oil stocks.
By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News senior reporter
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