Milan black jersey; bankers suffer on Mib.

(Alliance News) - Black Monday in Piazza Affari, which at the opening is the worst among Europeans, all down.

Markets, therefore, remain under pressure and investors remain cautious after a difficult week punctuated by aggressive central bank statements and ended with further global economic uncertainties over the attempted coup in Russia.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens down 0.9 percent to 26,976.65, the Mid-Cap is in the red 0.6 percent to 41,907.80, the Small-Cap gives up 0.4 percent to 26,787.86, and Italy Growth is just below par at 9,049.31.

Paris' CAC 40 gives up 0.3 percent, as does Frankfurt's DAX 40 while London's FTSE 100 is in the red by 0.4 percent.

On the main index in Piazza Affari, only Snam is saved, in the green by 0.2 percent.

Eni opens around parity after announcing Friday that it has signed an agreement to take over Neptune Energy Group, along with its subsidiary Vår Energi.

Eni will acquire Neptune's entire portfolio with the exclusion of assets in Germany and Norway: assets in Germany will be spun off before the deal while those in Norway will be acquired by Vår directly from Neptune under a separate share purchase agreement.

On the other side of the list are the banks, which are the worst performers a few minutes after the opening along with Leonardo, in the red by 4.5 percent: BPER Banca, Banca MPS, and Banco BPM give up 3.0 percent, 2.7 percent, and 2.4 percent, respectively.

UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo also hurt, falling 1.8% and 1.5% respectively.

CNH Industrial and Telecom Italia also suffer, opening down 2.6% and 2.3%.

On the bearish-dominated Mid-Cap, Maire Tecnimont takes the top spot and advances 2.0% after it announced that its subsidiaries, part of the Integrated E&C Solutions business unit, Tecnimont and Tecnimont Arabia Limited were awarded two lump-sum turn-key EPC contracts related to the petrochemical expansion of the SATORP refinery-a JV composed of Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies-in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

The petrochemical plant will enable the conversion of refinery gas and naphtha, as well as ethane and natural gasoline, into higher value-added chemicals.

The total value of the contracts is approximately USD2 billion.

Safilo Group opens up 0.2 percent. The company announced on Monday that, following the company's previous announcements regarding the evaluation of a possible sale of the Longarone plant to potential third parties, negotiations are at an advanced stage with Thelios Spa, a company active in the eyewear sector and belonging to the LVMH Group, which would make it possible to preserve the know-how of the site and absorb a substantial part of the personnel involved in the same.

Acea rises 0.1 percent after letting it know Friday that the board of directors has resolved to appoint, with the favorable opinion of the board of statutory auditors and with immediate effect, Sabrina Di Bartolomeo as Acea's manager in charge of drafting corporate accounting documents and chief financial officer, and to replace Fabio Paris.

Sesa - in the red by 0.9 percent - on Thursday announced that it had signed an industrial partnership agreement and acquired, through its wholly owned subsidiary Var Group Spa, a 55 percent stake in Sangalli Tecnologie Srl, thus strengthening its expertise in the Digital Workspace and Collaboration sector.

On the Small-Cap segment, Somec - in the green by 0.3% - reported Monday that its subsidiary Bluesteel has won a new contract worth GBP10.5 million, over EUR12 million at current exchange rates, for a prestigious architectural project in central London.

Mondo TV opens up 2.0 percent after announcing Friday the closing of a new licensing agreement for the Gorjuss brand with Coriex.

The contract will run until December 31, 2025, and provides for the payment of a new guaranteed minimum and, if the above amount is exceeded, the payment of royalties by the licensee. On all such amounts Mondo TV will retain its own commission of 30 percent.

Risanamento--up 0.5 percent--reported Thursday that the deed of merger of Milano Santa Giulia into Risanamento has been signed.

Among SMEs, Circle--which opens with a theoretical rise of 2.1 percent--reported Monday that it and 21 other European partners had been awarded the eFTI4EU project with a total value of EUR28.3 million. The project for Circle is worth EUR562,500 and has a duration of 36 months.

eFTI4EU will support nine European countries in implementing EU Regulation 2020/1056 on electronic freight information.

On Friday, LBM Next, in reference to the voluntary total takeover bid targeting ordinary shares of Labomar - in the red by 0.5 percent - made it known that the Prime Minister's Office announced that the coordination group for the exercise of special powers, based on the results of the Ministry of Health's preliminary investigation, has ruled that the notified transaction does not fall within the scope of applicability of the Golden Power regulations.

LBM, therefore, announced that the Golden Power condition precedent to the offer has been fulfilled.

Neosperience - in the green by 2.4 percent - announced Friday that it has been chosen by Sinelec, a technology company of the ASTM Group, one of the largest highway operators in the World, to create its C-ITS platform, dedicated to vehicle-to-everything communication, a foundational element for the development of the smart roads of the future.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed 0.3 percent in the red at 32,698.81, the Hang Seng gave up 0.6 percent to 18,780.16 while the Shanghai Composite was 1.5 percent in the red at 3,150.62.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed down 0.7 percent to 33,727.43, the S&P lost 0.8 percent to 4,348.33, while the Nasdaq was down 1.0 percent to 13,492.52.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0907 versus USD1.0882 at Friday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2732 from USD1.2710 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD74.40 per barrel versus USD73.32 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,928.54 an ounce from USD1,933.20 an ounce Friday night.

On Monday's economic calendar, data on business expectations from Germany and the ifo index on German business confidence arrive at 1000 CEST.

On the bond front, from overseas, at 1730 CEST are the auctions of three- and six-month US Treasury bonds.

Among companies listed on the stock exchange, Ki Group's results are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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