Indices Hover Around Parity at Midday

(Alliance News) - On Monday, markets extended the cautious trend with which they opened the session, as US trade tariffs and the final hours of negotiations ahead of the July 9 deadline continue to dominate the agenda.

Meanwhile, the Eurozone retail sales report was released: in May, sales rose by 1.8% year-on-year, compared to a 2.7% increase in the previous month.

Investor confidence is on the rise: the indicator jumped to a positive 4.5 from the previous 0.2, signaling greater optimism across the Eurozone.

As a result, the FTSE Mib climbed 0.4% to 39,769.24 points, the Mid-Cap gained 0.1% to 54,083.35, the Small-Cap rose 0.2% to 32,134.65, and Italy Growth advanced 0.1% to 8,260.83 points.

Across Europe, Paris's CAC 40 hovered around parity at 7,697.07 points, Frankfurt's DAX 40 was up 0.4%, and London's FTSE was flat at 8,823.37.

Back at Piazza Affari, Generali took the top spot among blue chips at midday, gaining 1.4% after JPMorgan raised its price target to EUR37 from EUR34, maintaining an 'overweight' rating.

Unipol followed with a 1.3% rise to EUR16.50 per share.

Amplifon announced that since May it has introduced a new commercial proposal in Italy aimed at providing consumers with clearer, more complete, and easily understandable information about its hearing services and devices. The stock gained 0.2%.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, up 1.0%, received a credit rating upgrade from Fitch Ratings, which raised its long-term issuer default rating to 'BBB-' from 'BB+', moving the Siena-based bank into investment grade territory.

The public exchange offer launched by MPS for Mediobanca is awaiting review, although the bank led by Nagel has already firmly rejected the move, deeming it lacking in solid industrial logic.

Mediobanca lost 0.3%: the Gavio group sold 150,000 shares, and Aurelia another 100,000, taking advantage of the profit-taking window, while the stock retreated from its May highs.

On the banking M&A front, Wednesday, July 9, will see the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) rule on UniCredit's appeal against the government's Golden Power decree regarding Banco BPM, which imposes a series of restrictions on the deal. UniCredit shares rose 0.7%, while Banco BPM was up 0.6%.

Tim Brasil, once rumored to be up for sale, has reaffirmed its status as a strategic foreign asset for the Telecom Italia group and has grown by 50%. The former monopoly's stock gained 1.2%.

FinecoBank -- up 0.9% -- announced Monday that net inflows in June reached EUR848.1 million, down from EUR996.8 million in the same month last year, bringing year-to-date inflows to EUR6.63 billion, surpassing the EUR5.02 billion for the same period in 2024.

In detail, managed savings reached EUR707.1 million, marking a 67% increase from EUR424.0 million in June 2024. Fineco Asset Management achieved its best result of the year, with retail inflows settling at EUR440 million.

On the Mid-Cap index, Cembre continued its strong run at the top of the list with a 3.3% increase to EUR56.90 per share, extending its positive performance over the past 30 days, during which the company's stock rose by 2%. The six-month tally is up 38%.

El.En. announced it had bought back 5,000 of its own ordinary shares for a total value of EUR55,835.09. The stock was up 0.4%.

The signing of striker Jonathan Christian David lifted Juventus shares by 0.3% to EUR3.0 apiece.

NewPrinces, which slipped 0.9%, announced it had bought back around EUR2 million of its own shares.

Comer Industries closed the list with a 2.5% decline.

Among small caps, Eurogroup Laminations topped the chart with a 5.3% gain to EUR2.318 per share.

Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport opened up 0.2% after announcing that in June it surpassed the milestone of one million passengers.

Notably, EPH ranked among the top performers with a 4.6% increase, extending its positive performance over the past month, which saw 2.6% growth.

Digital Bros, which on Friday hit a new 52-week high at EUR16.68 per share, was up 0.2%.

Borgosesia, flat at EUR0.60, announced it had reached approximately EUR133 million in assets under management, a 68% increase compared to December 31, 2024, mainly thanks to the agreement signed with My Credit2.

Netweek trailed the pack, falling 4.2%.

At the halfway mark of Monday's trading session, GEL continued to lead among SMEs, marking its second consecutive day of gains. The stock was up 8.9%.

Haiki+ also performed well, boosted by the acquisition of Ecobat Resources for EUR22.9 million. The stock climbed 8.7%.

Lindbergh announced Monday that, through its subsidiary SMIT, it had signed a preliminary agreement to acquire 100% of Termotecnica Monzese, a company active for over 50 years in the maintenance and servicing of heating and air conditioning systems in the province of Monza and Brianza. The SME's stock rose 0.7%.

DBA Group announced a buyback for EUR38,252.82. The stock was flat at EUR4.3.

Eprcomunicazione remained at the bottom of the SME list with a 5.3% drop.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed Monday down 0.6%, the Shanghai Composite ended slightly positive, and the Hang Seng slipped 0.1%.

In the currency markets, the euro traded at USD1.1730, down from USD1.1780 at Friday's close, while the pound was at USD1.3589, compared to USD1.3645 Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD68.51, up from USD68.31 per barrel at the previous close, while gold was valued at USD3,309.28, down from USD3,332.55 per ounce on Friday.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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