FTSE MIB Set for Weekly Gain

The FTSE MIB rose 0.5% to around 52,700 in early trading on Friday, heading for a weekly advance and tracking gains across Asian peers amid continued expansion in regional activity. This followed Thursday’s weak US jobs report, which led investors to scale back expectations of a near-term Federal Reserve rate hike. On the data front, Italy’s services activity returned to growth in June, while retail sales edged up 0.2% month-on-month in May, slightly above the expected 0.1% rise. Shares of Prysmian advanced 2.7% after JPMorgan raised its price target on the stock to €190 from €170 while maintaining an “overweight” rating. Other key gainers included Enel (0.9%), Tenaris (0.9%), Unipol Gruppo (1.1%), Saipem (1.8%), Nexi (1.6%), and Amplifon (1.8%). The index has risen more than 2% so far this week.

The FTSE MIB rose 1.6% to close at 52,428 on Thursday, supported by lower-than-expected US labor data and defense-linked gains. Defense stocks extended the previous session's gains, led by Fincantieri (6.8%), Leonardo (6.5%) and Avio (1.5%). Weaker-than-expected US labor data fueled gains in financial stocks by reducing expectations of further Fed rate hikes this year, while the BTP-Bund spread dropped to 78bps during the session and added support. UniCredit led gains at 4.1%, followed by Banca Mediolanum (2.2%), Finecobank (2.1%), Intesa Sanpaolo (2.1%) and Mediobanca (1.2%). Insurers Unipol (3.2%) and Generali (0.7%) also extended advances. Energy stocks also advanced, led by A2A (3.6%), while Eni gained 1.6% after announcing a fusion energy joint venture. Meanwhile, AI-related stocks remained volatile, with STMicroelectronics (-0.9%) and Prysmian (-0.7%) ending lower.

The FTSE MIB Index went up by 824 points or 1.60 percent on Thursday to close at 52428 points. The rise was led by Leonardo SpA (6.88%), Fincantieri (6.78%) and UniCredit (3.79%).