It is a war bulletin that can be observed today, 24 February, in Piazza Affari. LThe coronavirus emergency that has hit Northern Italy is also causing panic on the markets. The Milan Stock Exchange went ko, with the Ftse Mib losing more than 6% less than an hour after closing, now light years away from the 25 thousand points reached last week. There are very few stocks that have managed to save themselves from the stock market hecatomb, many more – over 30 – who instead recorded losses of more than 10%.
The largest losses were recorded by companies active in the tourism, transport, retail and telecommunications sectors, confirming analysts' forecasts: "The main risks relate to companies that have activities directly related to tourist flows and event management (luxury, Fiera Milano, IEG), to companies with high exposure to consumption/commercial activities in Italy ( Nexi, Marr, Geox, OVS, IVS, Amplifon) and to companies that have a high concentration of production activities in Northern Italy, in the event of a deterioration of the situation leading to production blocks (IMA, Interpump, Zignago)".
Involved, albeit indirectly, the financial stocks that could pay for the temporary reduction in GDP feared by brokers, but also by the governor of Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco
At 16.40 the worst performance of the entire Milan basket is that of Caleido Group (tour operator) which marks -15,86%. Followed by Casta Diva Group (15,6%), Wm Capital (15,38%), Risanamento (-15%) and Unieuro (-14,62%), all companies belonging to the sectors considered most at risk as well as Blue Financial Communication (-14,38%) and Ovs (-14,09%). Even among the most famous titles (outside the main list) they lose more than 10%. Rest (-11,96%), Tod’s (-11,5%) And Ps (-10,6%).
The red tsunami does not spare the Ftse Mib where, less than an hour after the markets close, there is not even a single stock in positive territory. Indeed, to be honest: there is not even a share that marks a drop of less than 3%. At the bottom of the list is Juventus (-11,44%) which adds to the panic selling due to the coronavirus, worries about its financial stability: in the first six months of the 2019/2020 financial year, the Juventus company recorded a loss of 50,3 million euros which compare with a profit of 7,5 million recorded in the same period of the previous year.
Among the most affected securities of the Ftse Mib are then Salvatore Ferragamo (-9,15%), Azimuth (-8,26%) Cnh (-8,11%), nexi (-8%), Bpm bank (-7,56%), Saipem (-7,51%), Leonardo (-7,3%), Poste Italiane (-7,2%) And Buzzi Unicem (-7,18%). The best performance? It is made by Telecom Italia which yields 3,67%, the lowest percentage of the entire list.
In this gloomy picture, however, there are some companies (all minor) that manage to resist the wave of sales: best stock of Piazza Affari is Confinvest, a company listed on Aim Italia and active as a market dealer of physical investment gold. Stocks, in sharp contrast to the market, benefit from the rise in gold, whose prices have reached their highest levels since 2013. Faced with the alarming news on the Coronavirus, investors' money is in fact pouring into the safe haven asset par excellence.
Stocks up also included Gilead Sciences (pharma, +7,66%) Cdr Advance Capital (+4,72%), Costamp Group (+3,88%), Molmed (+2,33%) and Puma ( +2,24%).
