(Alliance News) - Old Continent equity markets continued Friday's trading in a bearish trend after posting good gains in the previous session.

In macroeconomic news, in Germany, the manufacturing sector contracted at a much faster pace, weighing on the composite PMI. In France, both the manufacturing and services PMI fell unexpectedly, indicating a deeper contraction.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, is giving up 1.1 percent to 33,297.55.

Among the smaller listings last night, the Mid-Cap is giving up 0.9 percent to 47,179.96, the Small-Cap is giving up 0.8 percent to 28,869.99 while Italy Growth is moving in the red by 0.2 percent to 8,123.32.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is in the red by 0.9 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is giving up 0.4 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is giving up 0.5 percent.

In Piazza Affari, among the bullish few, Saipem is moving ahead 1.2 percent with new price at EUR2.15 per share, on the heels of the eve's green closed with a plus 1.9 percent.

Also advancing well is Hera, which scores a plus 1.4%, on the heels of eve's gain of plus 2.0%.

At the rear is STMicroelectronics, which gives up 1.7% to EUR37.76 after eve's gain of 0.6%.

Moncler is giving up 0.4%. Of note, Morgan Stanley cut its target price to EUR58.00 from EUR65.00. Barclays, on the other hand, raised it to EUR66.00 from the previous EUR68.00.

UniCredit--in the red by 2.7 percent--reported Friday that it had completed the second tranche of its 2023 buyback program. The bank bought back a total of 44.9 million of its own ordinary shares during the second tranche, equivalent to 2.7 percent of its share capital, for a total value of EUR1.59 billion.

On the cadet segment, SAES Getters advances well, which is up 1.1 percent, following the 0.9 percent red on eve.

Ferretti, on the other hand, advances 0.5 percent, after a 0.3 percent decline on eve. The stock, which is priced in the EUR2.96 area, has a 30-day VWAP - volume weighted average price - of EUR3.05.

Maire Tecnimont - down 1.7 percent - announced Thursday that NextChem, through its subsidiary NextChem Tech, will act as Technology Design Integrator to develop the Process Design Package for the hydrogen and carbon dioxide recovery unit of the Hail and Ghasha development project. The Hail and Ghasha project, whose project was awarded to Tecnimont - Maire's Integrated E&C Solutions - by ADNOC in October 2023 for a total value of USD8.7 billion, is one of the most strategic initiatives globally for the decarbonization of the energy transformation industry, the company explained in a note.

Fincantieri -- down 0.6 percent -- reported that shares for the EUR400 million capital increase will be offered at EUR2.62 each. The company will issue a maximum of 152.4 million new shares, to be offered at a ratio of 9 new shares for every 10 held. The price represents a 32 percent discount from the theoretical ex-rights price. The total value of the offering will thus be EUR399.3 million.

Intercos, on the other hand, gives up 5.5 percent, subject to profit-taking after five sessions ended among the bullish.

On the SmallCap, Conafi advances 7.8 percent to EUR0.2360, rearing its head after two sessions among the bearish.

Good buying also on Exprivia, which pushes ahead 1.1%. The stock - which has been missing the ex-dividend since 2022 - trades on the heels of eve's gain, which closed with a plus 4.4 percent.

doValue - down 1.6 percent - reported that following the announcement of the binding agreement to acquire Gardant, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings confirmed the company's Issuer Credit Rating and Issuer Default Rating at "BB," with a "Stable" outlook. The rating and outlook confirmation reflect expectations that the integration of Gardant will allow doValue to reduce leverage, according to the released note.

In contrast, Aedes gives up 4.2 percent to EUR0.23 after a 4.2 percent green in the previous session.

Among SMEs, boost on IMD International Medical Devices, which moves ahead 2.2% after two sessions closed with bearish candlestick.

Comal - up 2.9 percent - reported Friday that it won a EUR1.2 million order from an Italian operator to supply the Sun Hunter tracker.

Kruso Kapital, on the other hand, gives up 5.1 percent, heading for its third session to close in a bearish direction.

Matica Fintec, meanwhile, gives up 3.2 percent, breaking a four-session bearish mini-trend.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0694 from USD1.0718 on Thursday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2652 from USD1.2675 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude trades at USD85.59 per barrel from USD85.40 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,360.7 an ounce from USD2,369.60 last night.

In New York last night, the Dow Jones gained 0.8 percent, the Nasdaq gave up 0.8 percent, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei gave up 0.1 percent, the Hang Seng closed down 1.8 percent, and the Shanghai Composite is giving up 0.2 percent.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar features retail sales and the commodity price index at 1430 CEST from Canada.

Coming up is the PMI also composite from the US, at 1545 CEST.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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