Exchange 30 June | The drop in inflation supports European lists, Milan rises

The positive indications on the inflation front coming from France are supporting the European stock exchanges. Waiting for the general data on consumer prices in the Eurozone (and then the one about the United States)the continental lists thus opened the last session of June 2023 and the first half of the year up.

In Milan

Piazza Affari rises in the early stages of trading with the Ftse Mib at +0.49% and 28,062 points (here the trends in real time). Among the main Milanese stocks, Erg achieved an increase of 3.23% following the announcement of the sale of Erg Power, owner of the Priolo Gargallo plant, to the Swiss investment holding company Achernar Assets for 191.5 million. In the energy sector, purchases also reward Tenaris (+1.61%), Saipem (+1.45%) and Eni (+1.35%). The banks are positive, starting from +1.27% for Bper, and Diasorin (+1.19%) and Tim (+1.05%) are also gaining ground. Moncler goes against the trend, losing 0.67%. The energy and financial markets are in tune (Generali +0.24%, Intesa +1.01%, Unicredit +0.85%) and Tim at +1.05%. Mixed industrialists with Stellantis +0.74%, Pirelli -0.18%, Iveco +0.53%, Ferrari -0.10%.
The titles of the Berlusconi galaxy they opened tonics in the aftermath of the Fininvest meeting, the first after the disappearance of the founder Silvio Berlusconi, who approved the 2022 budget in a compact way and assigned a 100 million dividend for the Berlusconi heirs. In Piazza Affari, in the first few minutes of trading, category “A” shares of Mfe increased by 0.39%, those of Mfe “B” recorded +0.49%. The Mondadori stock shines, up 1.16% to 2.01 euros. Positive start of the session also for Banca Mediolanum at +0.27%.

BTPs and spreads

Negative start for the prices of sovereign bonds traded on the electronic secondary Mts.

After the first few minutes of trading, prices are yielding for all Eurozone securities and the Italian 10-year BTPs are losing ground against the Bunds with the consequence that the spread widens again. At the start, therefore, the yield differential between the BTP and the German bond with the same maturity amounted to 168 basis points (167 points the day before) with the yield on Italian bonds reaching 4.1% (here the trend of the spread in real time).

In Europe

In the rest of Europe Frankfurt marks +0.33% at the opening, Paris +0.43% and Madrid +0.4%. On the other hand, Amsterdam fell, slipping by 0.24%. In the currency market, the dollar remains strong after first-quarter US GDP data fueled expectations of a more aggressive Fed for longer. The euro weakened to 1.0863 from 1.0880 in yesterday’s close, while the greenback was little moved against the yen at 144.58 (from 144.63). The euro/yen ratio at 157.04 (from 157.49). On the energy front, the price of oil showed little change: August futures on the WTI mark -0.13% to 69.77 dollars a barrel, while contracts of the same maturity on Brent rose by 0.05% to 74.38 dollars. In Amsterdam, gas fell by 2.9% to 34.3 euros per megawatt hour.

In Asia

The Chinese stock markets closed the session in positive territory in spite of the new slowdown in the manufacturing and services sector: the Composite index of Shanghai climbed 0.62%to 3,202.06 points, while that of Shenzhen by 1.08%, reaching 2,049.23. Chinese manufacturing activity slowed down in June for the third month in a row: the official purchasing managers’ index (Pmi) stood at 49 from 48.8 in May, remaining below the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction and in line with forecasts and increasing pressure on the government for more stimulus to support weak demand.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed the session slightly down. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.14% to 33,189.04 points. Weighing on the Japanese markets session was China, which reported a slowdown in factory activity in June due to weakening consumer spending and export demand. Confirming signs of cooling from the economic rebound following the end of virus checks, an official survey showed China’s industrial activity contracted for another month in June on lower export orders.
Hong Kong is also weak (-0.18%) to ongoing exchanges while Shanghai (+0.74%) and Shenzhen (+1.2%) held.