Stock exchanges in red at start; fashion still weighs on Mib

(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, major European stock markets confirmed expectations and opened in negative territory, with the CAC 40 in Paris doing worse than all amid political turmoil ahead of the choice of the next executive.

Thus, on a quiet morning in macro terms and while inflation data is awaited in Italy, the FTSE Mib opens down 0.7 percent to 34,130.74, the Mid-Cap is in the red 1.1 percent to 48,424.86, the Small-Cap gives up 0.7 percent to 29,051.77, while Italy Growth rises 0.2 percent to 8,140.66.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red 1.2 percent, London's FTSE 100 is down 0.6 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gives up 0.8 percent.

On the Mib, the only list in the green is FinecoBank, which rises 1.5 percent.

Doing worse than everyone else is Amplifon, which sits at the bottom with a 2.1 percent loss, while still hurting the fashion sector with Brunello Cucinelli and Moncler, in the red by 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Cucinelli reported Thursday that it closed the first half of the year with revenues up 14 percent year-on-year to EUR620.7 million from EUR543.9 million in the same period a year earlier.

On a geographical basis, the Americas posted a 19 percent increase in revenues, Europe 9.0 percent and Asia 14 percent. By sales channel, retail was up 15 percent and wholesale was up 13 percent.

As Francesco Bonazzi wrote in his column in Alliance News, "China has been the world's top luxury outlet for years now, and today it has also frozen the financial markets. The economy of the country led by Xi jin Ping grew 4.7 percent in the second quarter, up from 5.3 percent in the previous quarter and 5.1 percent expected. On a cyclical basis, as the National Bureau of Statistics reported, GDP growth was 0.7 percent, compared with 1.6 percent in the first quarter and 1.1 percent estimated by economists and think tanks.

"The news of the slowdown comes on the first day of the Chinese Communist Party Plenum, which is called to give a new direction to economic policy and decide on possible forms of support for consumption. Two figures are enough to give an idea of the situation: in June, China's industrial production rose 5.3 percent, while retail sales grew only 2 percent. And in the real estate market, disrupted by the Evergrande crack, new home prices are down 4.5 percent year-on-year."

In the day's news, Diasorin--in the red by 0.1 percent--reported Tuesday that it has received "de-novo" approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the Direct Simplexa C. auris kit indicated for diagnosis on patients with suspected Candida auris colonization.

The test, which applies the real-time polymerase chain reaction technique, is used for direct qualitative in vitro detection of C. auris DNA from axillary/inguinal swabs of patients with suspected colonization and is capable of identifying the six globally circulating C. auris groups.

On the Mid-Cap, ENAV Group -- in the red by 0.5 percent -- on Monday announced that it has signed a contract with Teledife -- that is, the "Telematics and Advanced Technologies Directorate of the Ministry of Defense" -- for the supply, installation and commissioning of a new radar for air traffic surveillance carried out by the Air Force at the Sigonella air base.

Specifically, the two-year contract calls for the supply of the new radar and equipment for the room that will house the air traffic controllers including the installation and commissioning activities of the new equipment.

Maire Tecnimont - up 0.1 percent - announced Monday that Tecnimont, through its Indian subsidiary Tecnimont Private Limited, in collaboration with NextChem, has been awarded by Sembcorp Green Hydrogen India Pv. an engineering study for a green ammonia plant in India.

Fincantieri rises 0.6 percent after it reported Monday that 1.4 million unexercised option rights were sold in advance during the first offering session during the option period, giving the right to subscribe for up to 1.2 million newly issued ordinary shares of the company.

The company recalled that during the offer period between June 24 and July 11, 168 million option rights were exercised, resulting in 151.2 million new shares already subscribed, accounting for 99.2 percent of the total number of new shares offered and with a total value of EUR396.1 million.

On the Small-Cap, Somec gains 0.6 percent after it announced Tuesday that, following the adoption of a new organizational structure for the Administration, Finance and Control area, Alessandro Zanchetta takes over as Chief Corporate Officer while Daniel Bicciato is appointed Group Chief Financial Officer.

Seri Industrial gives up 0.2 percent after it announced on Friday that it had finalized the acquisition of 98 percent of Industria Italiana Autobus Spa, a manufacturer of Menarinibus-branded road public transport vehicles.

In addition, the planned capital increase by Invitalia Spa and Leonardo Spa and the company was subscribed. The share capital at closing is approximately EUR141.3 million, and does not include additional contributions from the sellers scheduled for July 15 and Dec. 31, 2024 for an additional EUR50 million.

Among SMEs, Casta Diva--up 0.3 percent--reported a 9.0 percent increase in production value in the first half of the year to EUR57.2 million from EUR52.7 million. Consolidated backlog value as of June 30 stood at EUR34.2 million.

Farmacosmo gives up 1.7% after announcing that it has established Farmacosmo Logistics, to which the logistics activities currently carried out by the company will be transferred.

Medica rises 0.7 percent after reporting Monday that it has increased its stake in Medico MedTech Co to 32 percent.

Medico MedTech is a trading company based in Suzhou, China, whose majority shareholder is Suzhou Huisheng Medical Science & Technology Co.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.2 percent to 41,275.08, the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.1 percent to 2,976.30 and the Hang Seng was down 1.5 percent to 17,748.11.

In New York at Monday's close, the Dow gained 0.5 percent to 40,211.72, the Nasdaq rose 0.4 percent to 18,472.57 while the S&P 500 closed up 0.3 percent to 5,631.22.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0896 from USD1.0912 in Monday's European equities close while the pound was worth USD1.2957 against USD1.2986 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD84.26 per barrel from USD85.09 per barrel at Monday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,441.45 an ounce from USD2,433.31 an ounce on Monday evening.

Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar includes, at 1000 CEST, the Italian inflation figure while, at 1100 CEST, it will be the turn of the trade balance of both Italy and the Eurozone.

Also at 1100 CEST, the ZEW business confidence sentiment data for Germany and the Eurozone will be available.

In the afternoon, from the U.S., at 1430 CEST, it will be the turn of retail sales data while, at 2230 CEST, the weekly oil stocks figure will be released.

On the corporate calendar in Piazza Affari, the half-year results of Saccheria F.lli Franceschetti are scheduled.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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