(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets open trading in positive territory on a day when banks lead the gains in Milan.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green by 0.7 percent to 28,689.27, the Mid-Cap rises 0.2 percent to 40,767.40, the Small-Cap is in the green by 0.3 percent to 25,427.36, as is Italy Growth at 7,634.94.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.4 percent, London's FTSE 100 gains 0.5 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 rises 0.3 percent.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, banks are doing well at the start, with Monte dei Paschi di Siena coming out on top and rising 5.2%, boosted by the news that Fitch Ratings upgraded the bank's ratings by two notches, raising the long term issuer default rating to 'BB' from 'B+' and the viability rating to 'bb' from 'b+'.

The upgrade, according to Fitch, reflects the success of the restructuring process, which has enabled the bank to structurally rebuild strong capital buffers and strengthen operating profitability.

Rounding out the podium are Banco BPM, up 4.4 percent, and BPER Banca, up 3.2 percent.

Mediobanca, up 1.2 percent, also did well. The company announced that a new share buyback program of up to 17.0 million shares will start on Monday.

During the program, the maximum investment amount of EUR200 million may not be exceeded the shares will be used to finance potential M&A transactions for the bank and possible compensation plans.

The program will be completed within 12 months of the European Central Bank's approval.

UniCredit -- up 1.5 percent -- to have proceeded to purchase 8.9781 percent of the share capital of Alpha Services and Holdings SA in Greece from HFSF at a price of EUR1.39 per share.

The price implies a 9.4 percent premium to the "pre-announcement" price recorded on the Athens Stock Exchange as of the close of Oct. 20 and a 0.4 percent discount to the price recorded on the Athens Stock Exchange as of the close of Nov. 10, the company explained in a note.

The purchase of this minority stake in Alpha Services and Holdings is part of the long-term partnership with Alpha Services and Holdings in Greece and Romania.

Going down, however, are the energetics, with Snam sitting at the bottom, giving up 0.7 percent, preceded by Terna down 0.6 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, the pattern is repeated leading banks forward with illimity Bank, rising 3.5 percent after publishing good nine-month accounts. The bank reported net income of EUR75.0 million from EUR50.6 million, up 58 percent from the same period a year earlier. As of September 30, net interest income stood at EUR147.7 million, up 27 percent to EUR116.1 million in 2022.

Also up is Banca Ifis, up 1.0 percent after reporting that it ended the nine months with net income attributable to the group of EUR124.7 million, up 18 percent from EUR105.5 million in the first nine months of 2022.

Net banking income, up 4.8 percent to EUR512.4 million from EUR488.7 million in the same period of 2022, benefited from the Commercial & Corporate Banking Sector's positive correlation to rising interest rates.

Among the bearish performers is Acea, in the red by 0.8 percent. The company disclosed that it closed the first nine months with net income down 19% to EUR209 million from EUR257 million in the same period last year.

In contrast, the group's post-minorities recurring net income rose 3 percent to EUR208 million from EUR203 million a year earlier.

Webuild's board of directors--down 0.2 percent--reported Thursday that it recorded a record EUR22 billion in new orders in the first nine months of the year. Of these, more than EUR12.6 billion of the new orders came from abroad-Australia, the U.S. and the Middle East-while orders from Italy amounted to EUR9.4 billion.

Antares, on the other hand, gave up 5.9 percent to EUR2.9550 per share, after two sessions closed higher, in which it accumulated a gain of 9 percent.

Ascopiave also hurt, down 3.0%. The board of directors approved the interim report as of September 30, closing with a consolidated net profit, amounting to EUR14.4 million, and showing a decrease compared to the same period last year, when it was EUR25.3 million. The Ascopiave Group closed the first nine months with consolidated revenues of EUR125.2 million, compared to EUR120.0 million recorded in the first nine months of 2022.

On the Small-Cap, LVenture Group -- in the red by 4.4 percent -- reported that it closed the first nine months of the year with a loss of EUR1.7 million from a loss of EUR1.6 million in the same period last year.

As of September 30, revenues stood at EUR4.4 million down 11 percent from EUR4.9 million in 2022.

Datalogic--up 0.4 percent after closing down 12 percent Friday--reported Thursday that it ended the first nine months with revenues down to EUR417.0 million from EUR476.5 million in the same period a year earlier, with declines recorded in all geographies in which it operates.

KME Group - not yet affected by trading - informed that its subsidiary KME SE has signed an agreement with the group's lending institutions to renew a EUR410 million bank loan, increased by EUR80 million over the maturing line, usable in revolving form and maturing Nov. 30, 2025, plus an option to extend it for an additional year subject to the consent of the lending institutions involved in the transaction.

The agreement includes the introduction of sustainability parameters and confirms the structure of the line characterized by a wide flexibility of use to meet the group's working capital financing needs related, mainly, to inventories.

Among SMEs, Svas Biosana -- down 0.9 percent -- reported Thursday that its revenues rose to EUR81.6 million from EUR69.5 million in the same period last year.

CrowdFundMe rises 3.6 percent after reporting Monday that it has obtained new European authorization for operators in the sector.

CrowdFundMe will thus benefit from the new regulations, which promote the formation of a single European market, unified with clear rules. In particular, the EU regulation incentivizes the cross-border provision of crowdinvesting services, which was previously discouraged by highly fragmented laws.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed Monday up 0.1 percent to 32,585.11, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.3 percent to 3,046.53, and the Hang Seng was up 1.3 percent to 17,426.21.

In New York on Friday evening, the Dow rose 1.1 percent to 34,283.10, the Nasdaq gained 2.1 percent to 13,798.11 and the S&P 500 closed up 1.6 percent to 4,415.24.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0694 against USD1.0667 recorded in closing European equities Friday while the pound was worth USD1.2241 from USD1.2193 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD80.59 per barrel from USD81.11 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,941.55 an ounce from USD1,944.50 an ounce on Friday evening.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar features the German current account, at 1500 CET, five minutes after French three-, six- and 12-month BTF auctions are held.

From the US, room for crude oil stocks data, at 1630 CET, and auctions of three- and six-month Treasury bonds.

Among the companies that will release data on Monday are Banca Generali, ERG, EuroGroup Laminations, and Unieuro, among others.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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