(Alliance News) - The Mib index on Wednesday closed lower, veering into a bearish trend in the final phase and setting the bar at 27,300 points. Trading desks weighed optimistic Chinese manufacturing data against the - less good - Eurozone data, particularly on inflation in the major economies. In this regard, the consumer price basket in Germany, Europe's top economy, was unchanged at 8.7 percent year-on-year in February, not far from the 8.8 percent peak recorded in October and November, according to Destatis' preliminary estimate on Wednesday.

The figure came on the heels of solid labor market data released earlier, which could mean that the ECB will stick to its current campaign of aggressively tightening monetary policy.

Within the domestic walls, however, Italy's manufacturing activity grew more than expected in February, accelerating the pace of improvement from that of January, as released by S&P Global on Wednesday. Italy's manufacturing PMI rose to 52.0 points in February from 50.4 points in January, beating market estimates that pointed to an indicator of 51.0 points. Any figure above 50.0 points indicates growth in activity while one below that threshold indicates a decline.

The FTSE Mib, therefore, closed down 0.6 percent at 27,315.08.

Among the smaller listings, the Mid-Cap gave up 0.3 percent to 44,699.07, the Small-Cap gained 0.4 percent to 30,395.26, and Italy Growth closed up 0.5 percent to 9,415.75.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed in the green by 0.5 percent, Paris' CAC 40 finished in the red by 0.5 percent while Frankfurt's DAX 40 gave up 0.4 percent.

On the blue chip list, Moncler rose 3.3 percent the day after reporting that net income for 2022 was EUR606.7 million compared to EUR411.4 million in 2021. The board of directors also proposed the distribution of a dividend of EUR1.12.

In fiscal year 2022, the group achieved consolidated revenues of more than EUR2.6 billion, up 25 percent from 2021. These results include Moncler brand revenues of EUR2.2 billion and Stone Island brand revenues of EUR401.1 million.

Stellantis, on the other hand, rose 3.0 percent, bringing assets on a weekly basis to 8 percent.

Saipem also did well, up 1.2%, thanks to both the recovering accounts for the last fiscal year and the rise in the price of the barrel, with Brent rising above USD84 in recent hours.

Pirelli, up 1.4 percent, also rose, on which it is mentioned that Goldman upgraded its recommendation on the company to 'neutral' from 'sell' and raised its target price to EUR4.80 from EUR4.20.

Of opposite sign DiaSorin, which gave ground with 2.8 percent. The company and Cytek Biosciences Inc announced Tuesday that Luminex Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of DiaSorin, has completed the sale of assets related to its Flow Cytometry & Imaging business unit to Cytek for approximately USD46.5 million.

Profit-taking, on Nexi, which gave up 2 percent after gaining ground in the eve following news of the acquisition of 80 percent of Banco Sabadell's merchant acquiring business.

In the Mid-Cap segment, Salvatore Ferragamo was on the upside with 2.3 percent on the eve of the publication of results.

Italmobiliare, on the other hand, advanced 2.7 percent, after a 0.8 percent decline in the previous session, taking the lead in the list.

Salcef, on the other hand, advanced 2.2%, rearing its head after three bearish sessions.

Anima Holding--up 0.2 percent--reported Wednesday that the share buyback program initiated on Nov. 7 ended on Feb. 28. The company purchased 7.9 million shares or 2.3 percent of the share capital for a total consideration of EUR29.9 million.

At the back of the pack is doValue, which gave up 7.2 percent, closing for the fourth time on a negative trend. Trading volumes came close to 700,000, against a three-month daily average of around 118,000.

On the Small-Cap segment, Trevi Finanziaria Industriale climbed nearly 15 percent to EUR0.4435 per share, after the eve's red with 1.5 percent.

Good session also for d'Amico, which picked up 5.9 percent after Tuesday evening's 2.3 percent loss. Trading volumes exceeded 9.7 million, against a three-month daily average of about 3.7 million.

KME Group rose 0.1 percent on the heels of eve's gain after news of the launch of an OPAS on its own shares and warrants with announcement of a possible exit from Culti Milano, up 3.3 percent on Italy Growth.

In contrast, Autostrade Meridionali gave up 5.4 percent, reversing course after three bullish sessions.

Among SMEs, Officina Stellare gained ground with 7.8 percent after signing two contracts with Leonardo to supply a compact ultra-high-resolution multispectral optical system intended for the PLATiNO3 mission and a medium-resolution hyperspectral optical system intended for ASI's PLATiNO4 mission. The contracts, with a duration of about 14 months and a total value of about EUR3.8 million, provide for the design study and construction of space telescopes used by payloads under Leonardo's responsibility, for the PLATiNO3 and PLATiNO4 missions, promoted and funded by the Italian Space Agency.

Imvest, on the other hand, rallied 6.5 percent, after the previous two sessions among the bearish.

Convergenze also did well, closing up 1.9 percent after a 2 percent gain on the eve.

Among the many bearish performers, Grifal gave up 3.7 percent, while Allcore left 3.4 percent on the parterre, on the heels of eve's 1.3 percent red.

In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones is just above par, the S&P is down 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq is giving up 0.6 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0677 versus USD1.0613 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2022 from USD1.2116 on Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD83.15 per barrel versus USD83.82 per barrel on Tuesday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,837.35 an ounce from USD1,837.13 an ounce at Tuesday's close.

On Thursday's macroeconomic calendar, at 1100 CET comes the Italian unemployment rate, while at 1100 CET it will be the turn of the inflation rate, also coming from the Eurozone at the same time.

At 1330 CET, from the ECB the minutes of the latest monetary policy meeting.

From the US, at 1430 CET initial unemployment claims, while at 1730 CET an auction of 4- and 8-week Treasury bonds is scheduled.

At 2200 CET a speech by Fed member Waller is scheduled.

On the corporate calendar, coming up are results from Acea, Ariston Holding, Banco di Desio e della Brianza, Brembo, Carel Industries, Inwit, Piaggio, and Salvatore Ferragamo.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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