(Alliance News) - On Friday, major European stock markets open in positive territory on a day that looks quiet on the macro front from Europe and as the first quarterly results for 2023 begin to arrive in Piazza Affari.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green by 0.4 percent at 27,738.79, the Mid-Cap is up 0.3 percent at 44,191.80, as is the Small-Cap at 30,023.85, and Italy Growth is on the parity line at 9,393.16.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.3 percent, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.4 percent.

"European and U.S. futures are up as traders believe it is time for central banks to move away from the rate hike cycle. Yesterday's U.S. PPI data provided further evidence to this effect, confirming that the inflationary bubble has begun to deflate. This data adds to the U.S. CPI data from earlier this week, which reflected a similar message," commented Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets.

"Traders are now looking at this data to see if it is harmful to put all their eggs in one basket, particularly on riskier assets. We say this because the volatility index not only fell below the 18 bight, but also closed at its lowest level in almost a year. This index was well anchored at the height of the U.S. financial crisis, which was fueled by the belief that the significant rise in U.S. interest rates would cause a large number of market casualties."

On the main list of Piazza Affari, Hera rises 1.9 percent, after announcing the launch of its second sustainability-linked bond and the activation of a new "Sustainability-Linked Revolving Credit Facility," with which the multi-utility will allocate more than EUR1 billion in financing to projects supporting the green transition.

Purchases also on Leonardo, in the green by 0.1 percent. The company announced Thursday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cisco Systems, a world leader in networking and IT, with the aim of strengthening mutual business relations and initiating structured collaboration in the civil and defense industrial fields.

Also doing well is STMicroelectronics -- up 0.3 percent -- which announced Thursday that it will supply millions of silicon carbide devices to the ZF technology group starting in 2025.

Under the terms of the multi-year contract, ST will supply tens of millions of silicon carbide devices to be integrated into ZF's new modular inverter architecture, with mass production to begin in 2025. ZF will leverage ST's vertically integrated silicon carbide production in Europe and Asia to secure customer orders in the field of electric mobility.

Among the bearers is Generali Assicurazioni, in the red by 1.2 percent. The company announced Thursday that it has placed a new euro-denominated Tier 2 bond maturing April 20, 2033, issued in green format under Generali's sustainability bond framework.

The new securities are issued at the same time as Generali's announced cash repurchase offer, with the aim of repurchasing an aggregate nominal amount of securities not exceeding EUR500 million.

In the placement of the new securities, orders of EUR3.9 billion, more than seven times the offer, were raised from a highly diversified base of more than 300 international institutional investors, including a significant presence of funds with Green/SRI mandates.

On the cadet segment, Maire Tecnimont is not yet trading. The company announced Wednesday that its subsidiary NextChem Holding has completed the acquisition of an 83.5 percent stake in Conser, a Rome-based proprietary technology and process engineering company.

The consideration for the transaction is approximately EUR35.8 million, of which EUR28.4 million was paid today and EUR7.4 million deferred and subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions. The acquisition agreement also includes an earn-out clause based on the achievement of specific operating results for the years 2023 and 2024 and a put and call option structure on the remaining 16.5 percent stake to be exercised within the next three years.

LU-VE is flat after announcing on Friday that first-quarter product sales as of March 30, 2023 were EUR150.6 million, up 4.0 percent from the same period in 2022.

On a like-for-like basis, the company explained, the figure would have been in line with the first quarter of 2022.

The order backlog was EUR218.6 million, in line with the figure as of March 31, 2022 and up 16 percent from December 31, 2022. The figure, the company points out, is not affected by changes in the group's perimeter.

On the list, the good momentum in the fashion sector continues, with Brunello Cucinelli up 0.9 percent and Tod's in the green by 0.4 percent.

On the Small-Cap, Bastogi is not yet trading, but the company said Wednesday it approved results as of December 31, 2022 reporting a net profit of EUR28.2 million, up from a loss of EUR2.4 million a year earlier. The board of directors also decided to propose the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.009 per outstanding share, excluding treasury shares, using distributable reserves.

TXT e-solutions is flat at EUR19.16 per share after announcing Thursday that it has subscribed for the capital increase in Simplex Human Tech Srl under which TXT holds a minority stake in Simplex, representing 15 percent of the Insurtech start-up's share capital.

Giglio Group is flat after approving Thursday results as of Dec. 31, 2022 reporting a loss of EUR2.1 million improving from the EUR4.6 million loss in 2021.

Revenues, on the other hand, change to EUR37.3 million down from EUR38.8 million in 2021.

GPI is unchanged after announcing Thursday that it has won, through its subsidiary GPI Iberia, the tender for the automation of five Servicio Canario de la Salud hospitals in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Palma.

The contract is worth nearly EUR2 million and includes the supply of seven Riedl Phasys systems, seven automatic loading systems, five cold rooms, con-five ATM stand-alone dispensers, and transport systems for drug distribution to the outpatient area. Also included are eight years of maintenance.

Among SMEs, CleanBnB--up 1.4 percent--reported Wednesday evening that in the first three months of the year, it recorded further consolidation of its property portfolio, which reached 1,805 units, distributed in more than 70 Italian locations and managed exclusively, mostly under the "FULL package" formula of full management. This operating result was also reflected in the gross booking volume, i.e., receipts from guests for managed stays, which reached nearly EUR5.0 million, more than 67 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2022.

Imvest leads the list with a 7.6 percent increase.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green 1.2 percent to 28,489.66 and the Hang Seng was up 0.3 percent to 20,407.68 while the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6 percent to 3,338.15.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones closed in the green 1.1 percent to 34,029.69, the S&P lost 1.3 percent to 4,146.22, while the Nasdaq finished up 2.0 percent to 12,166.27.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1071 versus USD1.1026 at Thursday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2530 from USD1.2521 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.88 per barrel versus USD87.31 per barrel on Thursday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,052.45 an ounce from USD2,028.01 an ounce at Thursday's close.

On Friday's economic calendar, at 1430 CET, from the US, eyes on retail sales, at 1515 CET, on industrial production. At 1900 CET, the Baker Hughes report will be released, and at 2230 CET, as usual on Friday, it will be the turn of the COT report.

Among the companies on the Stock Exchange, the results of Bioera, Indel B, Svas Biosana, and Vimi Fasteners are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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