(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari is expected to open nearly flat on Friday's session, which closes a week poor in macroeconomic cues but anticipates an eighth full of macro data, central bank appointments and quarterly reports.

The FTSE Mib is given down 25.0 points or less than 0.1 percent after closing up 0.4 percent at 28,815.75 on Thursday's session.

London's FTSE 100 is expected down 3.8 points or less by 0.1 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is listed at essentially flat while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected to be in the red by 77.0 points or 0.5 percent.

In Milan last night, the Mid-Cap closed down 0.5 percent to 42,248.28, the Small-Cap finished 0.2 percent in the red to 26,686.69, and Italy Growth lost 0.2 percent to 9,081.86.

On the blue chip list, purchases on Tenaris, which confirmed the good form seen since the opening and moved ahead 2.7% with new price at EUR14.80, positioning itself for the fourth session to close on the bullish side.

Testifying to the good session for the oil sector, Saipem, on the other hand, posted a plus 0.2%, marking its third bullish session. Of note, Capital Fund Management cut its short position on the stock to 1.08 percent from 1.15 percent.

Eni holding also did well, with the six-legged dog's stock taking home 0.8%.

BPER Bank closed up 2.0%, with new price at EUR2.99. UBS raised its target price on the stock to EUR5.00 from EUR3.70.

Fincantieri, up 3.5 percent on the mid-cap, and Leonardo - up 1.8 percent and up 0.3 percent, respectively - reported that Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, the joint venture 51 percent owned by the former and 49 percent owned by the latter, has signed, with the Naval Armaments Directorate of the General Secretariat of Defense, the framework agreement for maintenance in operational condition for the Navy's aircraft carrier Cavour and the Orizzonte-class destroyers Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio. The agreement has a maximum total value of EUR190 million and will run out at the end of 2028. In the coming days, the first implementation contract is expected to be signed between prime contractor OSN and Navarm, covering the first two years of service.

On a negative note, among the list's bearish minority, STMicroelectronics gave up 1.5 percent, after a 0.3 percent rise on the eve of trading.

Also in the rear-view for Iveco Group, which gave up 0.8 percent, on the heels of eve's loss.

On the Mid-Cap, GVS rose 4.8%, on the heels of the previous two bullish sessions.

High quarters also for Cementir Holding, which picked up 3.1 percent instead, on its third straight session in the black.

Sesa left 3.5 percent on the parterre, after rising 1.3 percent in the eve. The company earlier this week reported that it had reported revenues of EUR2.90 billion as of April 30 from EUR2.38 billion in the same period a year earlier and up 21 percent.

Mondadori Editore went down 2.8%, for the fourth bearish day in a row.

Anima Holding closed down 1.0%, after finalizing the closing to acquire an 80% stake in Castello SGR, a company active in the promotion and management of alternative investment products mainly real estate based in Milan. The consideration, fully paid in cash, is EUR60 million, plus about EUR1.7 million for the estimated net financial position.

On the Small-Cap, strength on doValue, which raised 4.2 percent. The company announced Thursday the achievement of significant milestones in several key projects developed by its innovation lab and the launch of the next phase of the doTransformation program, a major initiative unveiled at the last Capital Market Day 2022. "The promise of AI has always been clear to us at doValue, and we are now proud to communicate the concrete results this technology is delivering across all of our businesses, with tangible effects on our KPIs and financials," said George Kalogeropoulos, group COO.

Sabaf, on the other hand, brought home a plus 2.8 percent, after a 1 percent decline on eve. The stock had previously come from four sessions closed positive.

d'Amico International Shipping was up 1.3 percent, with the company proceeding steadily with its buyback plan. Most recently, it announced earlier this week that it had purchased its own ordinary shares with a total value of about EUR585,000.

On a negative note, Pierrel gave up 8.7 percent to EUR1.5342. There was high trading volume on the stock, with more than 283,000 changed hands compared to a three-month daily average of just under 25,000.

Restart also did well, bullish with 1.4 percent after eve's 0.5 percent loss.

Among SMEs, boost on Datrix, which put up more than 13 percent after reporting Thursday that subsidiary FinScience is now bringing its thematic data to the Nasdaq Data Link platform.

Altea Green Power took home 6.2 percent, pending the release of results expected later today.

Gambero Rosso rose 4.4 percent, bringing the price to EUR0.52 per share, in its third bullish session.

Ecosuntek closed down 5.4 percent, after two bullish sessions.

Bellini Nautica closed down 5.1 percent at EUR1.88, in its third bearish session.

In Asia, the Nikkei is down 0.6 percent to 32,307.67, the Shanghai Composite is down slightly to 3,168.71 while the Hang Seng rises 0.4 percent to 19,007.96.

In New York, the Dow Jones closed yesterday up 0.5 percent to 35,225.18, the Nasdaq lost 2.1 percent to 14,063.31 and the S&P 500 gave up 0.7 percent to 4,534.87.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1141 against USD1.1140 on Thursday in closing European equities while the pound was instead worth USD1.2900 from USD1.2849 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD80.26 per barrel versus USD78.97 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,969.42 an ounce from USD1,970.28 an ounce last night.

On Friday's macroeconomic calendar, the Baker Hughes report on drilling rigs will be released from the U.S. in the afternoon at 1900 CEST, and the COT Report will be released at 2130 CEST, as usual on Fridays.

On the corporate calendar, the accounts of Clabo, GPI and TrenDevice are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.