Milan shares slightly higher midday led by Bulgari, oil stocks

Milan shares slightly higher midday led by Bulgari, oil stocks

	Published : Mon, 15 Jan 2007 13:17 By : Agencies Print this Story

MILAN (AFX) - Share prices were slightly higher at midday trade, with Bulgari leading the way and oil sector shares supported by a recovery in crude prices, dealers said.

At 12.48 pm, the Mibtel index added 0.40 pct to 32,447 points and the S&P/Mib was up 0.37 pct at 42,265, while volumes were 1.94 bln eur.

Dealers said that activity is expected to be low throughout the session because US markets will remain closed today for a public holiday.

Bulgari rose 3.34 pct to 11.14 eur, amid no specific news.

A dealer said the shares were supported by technical factors after they passed through the 11 eur level.

There had been speculation that Bulgari could be the target of a takeover.

Index heavyweight Eni rose 0.85 pct to 24.83 and its oil services unit Saipem added 1.36 pct to 18.81, on the crude oil price trend.

Enel was up 0.24 pct at 7.84, after a top administrative court ruled that the state-owned bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) has to sell its 10.2 pct in Enel as a conditions for the purchase of 29.9 pct of Terna.

The court confirmed that CDP has 24 months from July 2007 to sell the stake.

Terna was up 0.21 pct at 2.55.

Parmalat rose 1.26 pct to 3.31, after the food group announced late Friday that it had agreed to settle all its legal claims with former auditor Deloitte.

Under the settlement, Parmalat will receive 149 mln usd.

Fastweb fell 1.93 pct to 45, reversing initial gains.

Before the market open, Fastweb released a mixed set of preliminary fourth quarter results, which were stronger than market expectations in terms of revenues but slightly missed the EBITDA targets.

Pirelli lost 2.10 pct to 0.799, after the company said it has not had any contacts with Hinduja regarding the sale of a stake in Telecom Italia's holding company Olimpia.

Alitalia fell 0.92 pct to 1.06, amid reports it could book a 2006 net loss of about 400 mln eur compared with a 168 mln loss in 2005 and above market expectations.

Finmeccanica rose 0.80 pct to 21.38. Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy' on valuation grounds, but raised its target price to 22 eur from 21.

Popolare di Verona lost 0.95 pct to 22.94, in a weak cooperative bank sector and shrugging off an ING upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' with a new target price of 25.1 eur.

danilo.masoni@afxnews.com

dm/gp

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited