Friday May 9, 12:33 PM
Milan shares lower midday led by financials; Saras, Italease shine
MILAN (Thomson Financial) - Milan shares were lower midday with losses in all segments, particularly financials, but with dealers noting very few ideas on which to trade.
At 1:10 p.m., the Mibtel index was 1.46 percent lower at 25.615
points while the S&P/Mib index shed 1.58 percent at 33,544 points on volumes worth an estimated 5.639 billion euros.
'There is heavy cross-trading at the open but then activity is really low,' a dealer said noting that the negative sentiment on banking stocks is bringing the whole market lower.
Leading the market lower were banking shares, with Banca Monte dei Paschi (Milan: BMPS.MI - news) di Siena down 4.12 percent at 2.255 euros as its capital hike of some 5 billion euros draws to a close.
The capital hike ends on May 19, but Monday is the last day in which the rights associated with the capital hike will be traded.
Currently the rights are down 18.2 percent at 0.4835 euros.
UniCredit (Milan: UCG.MI - news) fell 2.71 percent at 4.6525 euros as Cheuvreux downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'outperform' while Deutsche Bank (Frankfurt: DB9999 - news) reduced its target price to 6.0 euros from 6.9 euros after Thursday's set of disappointing first-quarter results.
Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan: ISP.MI - news) shed 2.57 percent at 4.515 euros, UBI Banca (Milan: UBI.MI - news) was off 0.76 percent at 16.94 euros, Banco Popolare (Milan: BP.MI - news) shed 1.61 percent at 12.86 euros, while Banca Popolare di Milano (Milan: PMI.MI - news) was attempting to resist the falling trend, up 0.13 percent at 7.70 euros. Also bucking the falling trend was Banca Italease (Milan: BIL.MI - news) , up 1.55 percent at 7.59 euros, with investors hoping that the leasing and factoring group will soon find a new strategic partner.
Among insurers, Generali shed 1.31 percent at 27.96 euros with analysts noting that Thursday's first-quarter results showed that the insurer is more exposed to equity market volatility than previously thought.
Credit Suisse cut its price objective on the stock to 29.91 euros from 31.79 euros after slashing its earnings estimates for this year by 14 percent and those for next year by 10 percent.
Dresdner Kleinwort cut the price objective to 30 euros from 31.5 euros previously.
Generali's life insurance unit Alleanza shed 0.55 percent at 8.445 euros, Unipol (Milan: UNI.MI - news) fell 1.54 percent at 2.11 euros while Fondiaria-SAI was off 2.14 percent at 25.64 euros.
Pirelli (Milan: PC.MI - news) turned negative and was off 0.11 percent at 0.5535 euros ahead of the release of its first quarter results.
In the telecommunications sector, Telecom Italia (Milan: TIT.MI - news) was down 0.84 percent at 1.30 euros ahead of the release of its first-quarter results.
Fastweb (Milan: FWB.MI - news) was down 2.16 percent at 20.83 euros as UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) cut the price objective to 24 euros from 26 euros while keeping its 'neutral' stance on the stock. Tiscali (TIS.MDD - news) shed 3.58 percent at 2.5625 euros ahead of Monday's board meeting that is expected to give some long-awaited news on the expressions of interest it received to buy the group or parts of it.
Among oil-related stocks, Saipem (Milan: SPM.MI - news) shed 0.41 percent at 29.15 euros, while Eni (Milan: ENI.MI - news) was down 0.43 percent at 25.45 euros and Snam Rete Gas (Milan: SRG.MI - news) was down 0.59 percent at 4.205 euros.
Saras (Milan: SRS.MI - news) added 2.34 percent at 3.94 after releasing better-than-forecast first-quarter results as margins at its Sarroch refinery rose, thanks to its strong diesel exposure, more than offsetting the weakness of the U.S. dollar.
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