Major maneuvers on the currency front. Advance the dollar, a six-year high on yen (106,28) while theeuro slips to 1,2878 to its lowest since summer 2013. Meanwhile the landslide of the GBP, which threatens the victory of the yes vote in the Scottish independence referendum: the British currency is on its sixth consecutive day of decline against the dollar to 1,614 from 1,630 at the close. Since July, the loss has been around 7%. The cross-euro pound rises to its highs since June at 0,8017, i.e. today it takes 0,8017 pounds to buy 1 euro, at the beginning of September 0,79 was enough. The consequences on the stock markets were not long in coming.
Avanza Tokyo +0,47% stimulated by the lower value of the yen: according to Nomura, the drop of one yen in the relationship with the dollar leads to an increase in the operating margin of listed companies of 300 billion yen. Slightly down Shanghai -0,20%, waiting for new credit stimuli.
The strength of the dollar, on the other hand, reduces the thrust of Wall Street: Dow Jones index down by 0,15% and S&P 500 by 0,3% while the Nasdaq is Salito by 0,2%. Market expectations are focused on tonight's presentation of new Apple products -0,2%. Meanwhile, Alibaba's billionaire road show has begun: the e-commerce giant will debut on September 18 with a valuation of around 150 billion.
Big shot of Electrolux which took over the domestic products division of Ge for 3,3 billion.
Weak price lists in Europe: Frankfurt rose by 0,11%, Paris lost 0,26%, Madrid 0,42% and London, despite the tensions on the Scottish front, limits the damage to 0,30%. Piazza Affari closed the session down by 0,47% at 21.294 points.
The dollar's advance has had its greatest impact on the commodities front. L'gold slips to $1255 an ounce.
OIL AND PETROLEUM REDUCTION. SAIPEM WORST BLUE CHIP
The most significant effect concerns oil: Brent fluctuates around 100 dollars a barrel after hitting a low of 99,36, a price not seen since May 2013. The S&P Energy index falls in New York by 1,6. 1,5%. Exxon loses 038%. In Piazza Affari Eni and Tenaris suffered a drop of around one percentage point. Tiene Saras (+2,83%): falling crude oil prices favor refiners. The victim of the day is Saipem (-XNUMX%), the worst among the blue chips.
THE MARKET BETS ON A NEW BTP 30
Government bond yields rebound. The Italian 2,31-year bond rose up to 2,26%; on Friday, in the midst of the post-ECB rally, the rate had dropped to a new low of 136% since the introduction of the euro. The spread returned to 130 after the weekend lows (2011, not seen since May 117). In the meantime, the Scotland effect weighs on Spain: a victory by Scottish independence activists could have repercussions on independence tensions in Catalonia: the Bonos/Bund spread widened to XNUMX points.
Tomorrow the Treasury will place 8,25 billion euro of 12-month BOTs (out of 9,775 billion maturing), while medium-long term placements are scheduled for Thursday: from 5 to 7 billion on maturities of 5,7 and 15 years. Meanwhile, operators are looking at the possible syndicate launch of a new Italian 30-year bond, after last week Spain and Portugal already issued extra-long maturities (50-year and 15-year respectively).
TELECOM VOLA: THE OFFER IS COMING ON TIM BRASIL
In evidence Telecom Italia (+2,01%) despite the judgment of Fitch. The agency confirmed the BBB- long-term rating and the negative outlook, due to the debt profile which continues to reflect the weak cash flow and the few levers to be exploited to reduce the exposure. But among these is the possible exit from Brazil, again in great movement despite the repeated denials of CEO Marco Patuano.
Yesterday on the São Paulo Stock Exchange, Tim Participaçoes shares shot up by 8% after the forecasts of the newspaper Estadao that an offer of 10 billion euros (current market value) on Brazilian assets should arrive by the end of September of Telecom Italia by Oi in consortium with America Movil of the tycoon Carlos Slim and Claro (Telefonica). A confirmation also came from the financial director of America MOvil, Carlos Garcia-Moreno, who confirmed contacts with Oi in an interview with Bloomberg.
In the meantime, interest in Mediaset (-1,63%) faded, hit by profit taking after the president of the telephone group Giuseppe Recchi denied that there were contacts between the two companies.
MARCHIONNE HEADS TO FERRARI
Fiat was down (-1,24% to 7,57 euros), while media attention was rising due to the now imminent departure of Luca di Montezemolo from the top management of Ferrari. Yesterday Sergio Marchionne was in Maranello to participate in the board of Philip Morris, one of the great sponsors of the Prancing Horse. This too has raised expectations for an upcoming super Sergio to take over at the top of Ferrari as well. Luca di Montezemolo is silent for now. Instead, his friend Diego Della Valle (Tod's -0,2%) speaks who, with the usual evening press release, covers Marchionne with insults: "If I know he feels Italian, start paying taxes in Italy instead of teaching Italians lessons" . Among other industrialists, Finmeccanica rose by 0,6%, Prysmian -0,4%, StMicroelectronics +0,4% and Pirelli -0,2%.
MEDIOBANCA PROMOTES INTESA AND BANCO POPOLARE
Banks in no particular order at the close after a day characterized by judgments on the Mediobanca Securities sector in view of the European tests scheduled for 17 October. Banco Popolare was promoted +0,5%. Mediobanca has raised its recommendation to Outperform from Neutral. The analysts of Piazzetta Cuccia also rewarded Intesa +0,1%. The rest of the sector was negative: Banca Popolare di Milano -0,8%, Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna -0,1%.
Unicredit -0,5%. MontePaschi -1,4%. Meanwhile, the Bank of Italy has expanded the range of loans that banks can use to guarantee financing transactions with the Eurosystem. This decision, reads a note from the institute, aims “to encourage credit to small and medium-sized businesses and households. The new collateral will also facilitate the participation of banks in the upcoming refinancing operations of the ECB”. The measures will come into force on 10 September.
UTILITIES ARE BREAKING UP, FIERA MILANO FLYING
Among the utilities, Enel fell by 0,57%. Banca Akros which confirmed the hold recommendation and the target price at 4,45 euros. Commenting on Friday's words by CEO Francesco Starace that a decision on Endesa will come within a month, analysts declared that the best solution would be to increase Endesa's free float from 8% to 25%, with Enel reducing further its debt exposure.
A2A lost 1,21% to 0,8555 euro after the mayors of Milan and Turin relaunched the merger with Iren, an operation which, according to the operators, will be unlikely to be carried out in the next 6-12 months. Atlantia also lost 0,30% to 19,86 euros despite the positive data on traffic on the national network, with Anas which recorded a traffic volume of +25% in the period from 31 July to 3 August.
In the meantime, Fiera Milano continues to march +5,5% with very high volumes: 175 items traded. The title has progressed from four consecutive positive weeks: the company that manages the Rho-Pero exhibition center could soon become an "operating partner" of Expo 2015.
