European Market News

Monday January 26, 07:14 AM
Italian Stocks - Factors to watch on Jan 26

MILAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The following factors could affect Italian markets on Monday. Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*). FIAT (Milan: F.MI - news) UniCredit Chief Executive Alessandro Profumo said it was 'important to stand by Fiat,' when asked about a possible credit line of around 1 billion euros for the car maker at a conference on Saturday, news agency ANSA reported. * A right-wing cabinet minister said there would be a popular revolt if Fiat was given government help, ahead of talks with the auto sector this week. * Board member Roland Berger said Fiat could seek a European alliance after the crisis of the auto industry ends in 2010-2011. In an interview with CorrierEconomia, he said Fiat was unlikely to open talks on two fronts at the same time. The viability of Chrysler, the U.S. carmaker which has just agreed an alliance with Fiat, hinges on winning $3 billion of additional government aid and cost savings through concessions by creditors and employees, Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said on Friday. He called Chrysler's proposed alliance with Fiat a key step along its path to proving to lawmakers the car company can be viable. Fiat has extended some plant closures in Italy into March. TELECOM ITALIA (Milan: TIT.MI - news) Telco, the phone company's controlling shareholder group, has secured an extension to the end of 2009 for 1.1 billion euros in financing that expired on Friday, Il Messaggero reported. The financing was from banks Mediobanca (Milan: MB.MI - news) and Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan: ISP.MI - news) , both Telco members, it said. Telco's board is likely to meet on Thursday to consider Brazil's decision it must buy out minorities in Telecom Italia's mobile phone unit TIM Participacoes (TCSL3.SA - news) , Il Messaggero and La Stampa newspapers said on Sunday. * BANKS Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) cut price targets on several Italian banks. UNICREDIT (Milan: UCG.MI - news) The bank (NASDAQ: TBHS - news) 's three main shareholder foundations have asked the Economy Ministry for approval to subscribe to UniCredit's convertible bonds under a 3 billion euro euro capital hike, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Saturday. The bonds, called CASHES, would be available following a rights issue that ended on Friday. The foundations have already reserved a total of 1.3 billion euros in CASHES, Il Sole 24 Ore (Milan: S24.MI - news) said. ENEL (Milan: ENEL.MI - news) , TERNA (Milan: TRN.MI - news) Italy's energy regulator AEEG has launched a probe into pricing on the Italian power market, especially in Sicily where prices have been well above the national mean, AEEG said on Friday. Enel could agree as early as Monday a syndicated loan of 8 billion euros it would use to help it buy a further 25 percent stake in Endesa (Madrid: ELE.MC - news) , La Stampa said on Sunday. BANCA POPOLARE DI MILANO (Milan: PMI.MI - news) The cooperative bank sees its fourth-quarter net profit in line with the rest of 2008 and could pay out a dividend, Director General Fiorenzo Dalu was quoted as saying in an interview published on Saturday. Pop Milano is 'looking very carefully' at the conditions attached to the government's plan to support banks, Chairman Roberto Mazzotta said at a conference on Saturday, news agency ANSA reported. He said the bank had 'very recently' received the documentation from the government. Mazzotta added that 'nobody can ask us to suspend dividend payments.' Pop Milano concluded its buyout of asset manager Anima SGR (Milan: ANM.MI - news) on Friday holding about 94 percent of shares. SEAT PAGINE GIALLE (Milan: PG.MI - news) A $4 billion debt burden and uncertainty over the directory market are expected to hurt demand for the company's planned rights issue, forcing Mediobanca to take on a bigger stake. * LUXOTTICA (Milan: LUX.MI - news) UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) put a short-term sell rating on the company. SMALL AND MID-CAP COMPANIES TISCALI (Milan: TIS.MI - news) Management & Capitali has cut its stake in the broadband provider below 2 percent, it said in a statement on Saturday. On Sept. 30, bourse regulator Consob said the fund had 6.9 percent of Tiscali (TIS.MDD - news) . Tiscali will weigh possible moves against U.S. bank Citigroup Inc. over a cut in its price target that helped push the stock sharply lower, the Internet service provider said on Friday. RCS MEDIAGROUP Investor Giuseppe Rotelli could be tempted to sell his 10.9 percent stake in the company, publisher of daily Corriere della Sera, la Repubblica reported on Saturday. BENI STABILI (Milan: BNS.MI - news) The real estate firm should see steady revenues in 2008 and operating profit should be up 8 percent on comparable terms, Il Sole 24 Ore said in its Sunday 'Letter to the Investor' article. For Italian market data and news, click on codes in brackeths: 20 biggest gainers (in percentage)............ 20 biggest losers (in percentage)............. Mibtel index.......... S&P/Mib index......... Indice Mib-30......... Midex index........... Allstars index........ Block trades.......... Stories on Italy...... For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in brackets: European Equities speed guide................... FTSEurofirst 300 index.............................. DJ STOXX index...................................... Top 10 STOXX sectors........................... 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