(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets are expected to be in negative territory on a quiet morning on the macroeconomic front, while the Canadian and U.S. stock exchanges will remain closed for Family Day and President's Day, George Washington's birthday, respectively.

Thus, IG futures give the FTSE Mib in the red by 0.2 percent or down 75.0 points, after closing in the green by 0.1 percent at 31,732.39.

Paris' CAC 40 is expected down 0.3 percent or down 19.3 points, Frankfurt's DAX 40 is given in the red 0.3 percent or down 44.6 points, London's FTSE 100 is expected down 0.2 percent or down 11.8 points

Among the smaller Milanese listings on Friday, the Mid-Cap gained 0.7 percent to 45,513.79, the Small-Cap rose 0.3 percent to 27,603.88, and Italy Growth finished up 0.1 percent to 8,128.54.

In news from overseas markets, the People's Bank of China on Sunday kept the CNY500 billion rate on one-year loans to some financial institutions, known as the Medium Term Lending Facility, at 2.5 percent in an effort to avoid further pressure on the yuan and assess the impact of recent measures to support the economy.

As the MLF loans worth CNY499 billion will mature in February, the deal resulted in a net injection of CNY1 billion into the system, the smallest since last August.

Back in Italy, on the Mib on Friday, Unipol finished in the lead with a 21 percent gain on the day its corporate results were published. The company reported on Friday that it had posted a profit rising to EUR1.33 billion in 2023 from EUR866 million a year earlier.

Following the strong 2023 figures, the company decided to raise the dividend to EUR0.38 from EUR0.37 a year earlier.

Prysmian -- in the green by 1.8 percent -- on Thursday reported that it had finalized contracts for three orders with an aggregate value of about EUR5 billion with Amprion, one of Europe's leading transmission system operators, for two offshore grid connection systems, BalWin1 and BalWin2, and the DC34 onshore cable project.

The orders, which have now been included in Prysmian's order backlog, follow Prysmian's selection as "preferred bidder" in August 2023.

Among the bearish, Eni gave up 3.1 percent after the accounts. The company disclosed that it had approved consolidated results for the year and the fourth quarter of 2023, which closed with a net profit of EUR4.75 billion from EUR13.89 billion in the previous year.

Adjusted net income attributable to Eni shareholders for the fourth quarter 2023 was EUR1.64 billion with a consolidated tax rate of about 48 percent. In FY2023, adjusted net income attributable to Eni shareholders was EUR8.3 billion and the tax rate was about 44 percent.

On the cadet segment, the board of UnipolSai -- up 11 percent -- on Friday disclosed that it had analyzed preliminary results for FY2023, a period that ended with a consolidated net profit of EUR766 million, up from EUR651 million a year ago.

The board then proposed the distribution of a slightly increased dividend, rising to EUR0.165 from EUR0.16 in 2022.

Fincantieri rose 1.9 percent the day after it announced Thursday that it had completed the acquisition of the entire capital of Remazel Engineering Spa from Advanced Technology Industrial SA.

As previously reported, the consideration paid for 100 percent of the capital was EUR65 million.

Among smallcaps, Esprinet -- in the green by 1.3 percent -- reported Wednesday that it had revenues from customer contracts of EUR4.0 billion in 2023, down 15 percent from EUR4.7 billion in 2022.

The latest quarter saw revenues of about EUR1.2 billion, down 15 percent from the same period in 2022 when they were EUR1.5 billion.

Gefran was up 0.2 percent after reporting Wednesday that it ended 2023 with revenues down slightly year-on-year to EUR132.8 million from EUR134.4 million a year earlier.

Revenues as of Dec. 31, 2022, included EUR1.8 million, of which EUR800,000 related to the billing of services to companies that left the scope due to the sale of the drives business to the WEG Group and EUR900,000 for residual sales of drives products not subject to restatement, as they were generated by companies excluded from the scope of the business sale.

Restart gave up 0.5 percent, after reporting Tuesday that the board approved guidelines for drafting the new business plan.

The plan will pursue two business models: the balanced one involves the purchase of real estate assets on a proprietary basis with the aim of generating constant and indexed revenues over time that will ensure stable profitability; the opportunistic one involves a strategy aimed at seeking investment opportunities or opportunistic co-investment of portfolios or distressed assets underlying NPLs or UTPs, which are to be restructured, developed and repositioned in order to maximize their value for investors and shareholders by reselling them on the market.

Among SMEs, Cofle -- up 0.7 percent -- announced Friday that it had appointed Andrea Benettello as the company's new general manager, "marking a fundamental step in the company's evolution and reorganization strategy."

Palingeo rose 7.8 percent on its debut among Piazza Affari SMEs on Friday after a EUR7.4 million IPO.

The company, founded in 1999 in Brescia, is active in geotechnics. It operates in the special foundations sector, offering services to leading operators in the civil and infrastructure construction sector, and to industrial or public administration operators.

ALA rose 1.9 percent after reporting Thursday that it ended 2023 with a value of production of EUR233.1 million compared to EUR158.7 million the previous year, an increase of 47 percent.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed fractionally in the red at 38,470.38, the Hang Seng was 0.9 percent down at 16,190.74, and the Shanghai Composite gained 1.6 percent to 2,910.54.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed in the red 0.4 percent to 38,627.99, the S&P finished down 0.5 percent to 5,005.57, and the Nasdaq closed down 0.8 percent to 15,775.65.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0788 against USD1.0771 recorded in Friday's European stock close, while the pound was worth USD1.2624 from USD1.2591 on Friday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD82.91 per barrel versus USD83.27 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,033.75 an ounce from USD2,021.15 an ounce on Friday night.

On Monday, the calendar calls for the Spanish trade balance at 1000 CET, while an hour later comes the release of the Spanish consumer confidence index.

At 1200 CET, Germany's Buba publishes its monthly report.

Despite the close, data on Canada's industrial goods price index are expected at 1430 CET.

Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, the results of GEL and Ferretti are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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