(Alliance News) - On Monday, Milan pushes the major European stock exchanges in mid-morning and is the best of the day so far as the week begins that will include the Jackson Hole symposium and speeches by top central bankers.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 1.5 percent to 41,523.08, Mid-Cap is up 0.6 percent to 41,340.42, Small-Cap is up 0.5 percent to 26,857.88 while Italy Growth is down 0.1 percent to 8,845.91.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 rises 0.6 percent to 7,307.17, Paris' CAC 40 is up 1.1 percent to 7,242.62 and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gains 0.7 percent to 15,688.08.

On the Piazza Affari blue chip list, all stocks are up except for Pirelli & C down 0.1 percent.

At the top of the list, Saipem leads the bullish with a 4.3 percent increase. It is followed by Banca Monte Paschi and BPER Banca, up 2.9 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

Ferrari rises, up 2.6 percent, after Barclays raised its full-year earnings estimates for Ferrari NVson the heels of the luxury sports car maker's strong half-year results and a "constructive" call with Cavallino management.

The investment bank is still reluctant to press the accelerator pedal on Ferrari's shares, preferring to wait for a "better entry point" and reiterating its "equal weight" recommendation. Barclays raised its price target for Ferrari, which has the ticker RACE in the stock market, to EUR300.00 from EUR265.00, reflecting a 13 percent increase.

For 2023, Barclays left its earnings forecast for Ferrari largely unchanged. Revenues were slightly revised downward to EUR5.82 billion from the previous estimate of EUR5.84 billion, and the estimate for net income was slightly increased to EUR1.18 billion from EUR1.17 billion.

For 2024, the British bank raised its revenue forecast for the Milan-listed company by 0.9 percent to EUR6.33 billion from EUR6.27 billion, and its net income forecast got a larger increase of 4.4 percent to EUR1.36 billion from EUR1.31 billion.

On the Mid-Cap, Piaggio rose 2.6 percent after announcing that in connection with the appointment of a new chairman of the board, a special board meeting will be convened.

Late last week, in fact, the company had to say goodbye to historic chairman Roberto Colaninno, who passed away at the age of 80. Same fate for Immsi, another company led by Colaninno, which on the Small-Cap gains 7.5 percent.

Juventus FC rises 3.3 percent the day after a good league debut, capped with a clear 3-0 win at home to Udinese.

At the bottom of the basket, Eurogroup Laminations does worst of all and gives up 3.9%. MutuiOnline also goes down, down 3.0%.

Among the small-cap companies, KME Group is in the green by 0.3 percent after reporting Monday that subsidiary KME SE signed a letter of intent related to the specialty products business led by Cunova, of which KME SE in January 2022 had sold a 55 percent stake to German investment fund The Paragon Fund III.

KME SE, Paragon and SDCL EDGE Acquisition Corpn, an acquisition special purpose vehicle with securities listed on the NYSE, where it has raised USD200 million, have signed a non-binding letter of intent regarding a potential business combination between Cunova and SDCL EDGE.

The agreement stipulates that upon completion of the merger, a newly formed British holding company will have obtained a listing on the NYSE; Paragon will collect all cash from the divestment; and KME SE will not receive cash but will convert the stake held in Cunova into the newly listed shares, further increasing its stake through the contribution of its aerospace business. Under the agreement, it is expected that upon closing of the business combination, KME SE will hold a majority stake of about 51 percent in the NYSE-listed combined entity's share capital, equal to about 46 percent fully diluted upon the eventual exercise of the private and public warrants issued by SDCL EDGE.

At the bottom sits Netweek, down 5.3 percent. Doing better is Neodecortech, which, however, gives up 3.3% and is the second worst on the list. Fidia and Immsi lead with assets of 5.0% and 4.7% respectively.

Among SMEs, Altea Green Power gains 4.1 percent and Redelfi 4.8 percent after BESS Power Corp, a 65 percent subsidiary of RAL Green Energy Corp, an equal joint venture between Redelfi and Altea, underwrote a USD15 million financing with Leyline Renewable Capital LLC.

The funds will be earmarked for the implementation of the stand-alone Battery Energy Storage System pipeline in the U.S. territory. Leyline is a U.S.-based company that invests in renewable energy, providing financing to support projects from the early stage of development through construction.

Visibilia Editore continues to rally, up about 14 percent, as the date for the board's approval of its half-yearly report approaches.

In Asia, China's central bank cut a key interest rate in an effort to counter the post-Covid growth slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

The one-year primary lending rate, which serves as the benchmark for corporate loans, was cut to 3.45 percent from 3.55 percent, the People's Bank of China said in a statement, while the five-year LPR, which is used to rate mortgages, was left unchanged at 4.2 percent.

After the PBoC's decision, the Nikkei closed up 0.4 percent at 31,565.64, the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.2 percent to 3,092.98 and the Hang Seng fell 1.8 percent to 17,623.29.

In New York, the Dow Jones closed Friday up 0.1 percent to 34,500.66, the Nasdaq fell 0.2 percent to 13,290.78 and the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged at 4,369.71.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0903 versus USD1.0875 in Friday's European equities close while the pound was instead worth USD1.2738 from USD1.2738 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.32 per barrel versus USD84.37 per barrel at Friday night's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,918.40 an ounce from USD1,892.00 an ounce Friday night.

On Monday's economic calendar, the US is scheduled to hold an auction of three- and six-month Treasury bonds at 1730 CEST.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

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