030708 sintesi giugno

In June, the Italian stock market was characterised by growth in trading volumes and share price stability. Trading in shares listed on the stock exchange topped three billion euros per day, thus recording the highest turnover since November 2000.

Stock futures set new historical highs for monthly and daily trading. A new record was also set for trading in a single session for ETFs.

In June, the Mib index initially benefited from the continuation of the growth trend spilling over from April, which allowed it to achieve a new high for the year of 18,528 on Wednesday 18 June (+9.3% on the end of 2002), followed by a period of slight adjustment leading it to close the month at 18,034, a rise of 0.5% on the end of May and 6.4% compared with the end of 2002. Since the annual low on 12 March, the upswing has been 21.3%.

The Nuovo Mercato Numex followed a similar trend ending the month at 1,325, a rise of 3.0% on the end of May and 1.3% since the end of 2002.

The continuous indices grew at different rates: Mibtel -0.7% (+5.0% compared with the end of 2002), S&P/Mib -1.1% (+5.0%), Mib30 -1.7% (+5.0%) and Midex +2.5% (+6.6%). The performance of the MibSTAR index in June was in line with the performance of the general index (+0.3%), remaining above the levels achieved at the end of 2002 (+1.6%).

In Europe, since the start of the year, the Italian market has been ahead of London (+4.1%), Zurich (+3.9%), Paris (+0.7%) and Amsterdam (-9.7%) and behind Madrid (+13.7%) and Frankfurt (+11.3%).

The three macrosectors achieved different monthly performances: Financial +3.1%, Industrial +0.6% and Services -1.7%, which, compared with the end of 2002, represented a rise of +13.7% for Financial and +7.7% for Services and a fall of -4.6% for Industrial. Of the main sectors (representing at least 1% of the capitalisation) the performances of note were, on the one hand, Textiles (+9.5%) and Construction (+5.3%) and, on the other hand, Auto (-4.1%) and Minerals-Metals-Petroleum (-2.8%). Compared with 2002, the most significant changes were seen, on the one hand, in Transportation-Tourism (+25.7%) and Banks (+18.0%) and, on the other, in Minerals-Metals-Petroleum (-11.3%) and Auto (-9.5%).

Those S&P/Mib shares that achieved the best performance in June include Luxottica (+14.2%), Italcementi (+11.6%), Bulgari (+11.5%) and Banca Popolare Bergamo (+11.1%), whilst those posting the most disappointing figures were Fiat (-8.8%) and Enel (-7.3%).

Volatility was further reduced for the Stock Exchange, falling to 10.0% (the STAR segment volatility remains significantly lower at 5.1%) and remained stable at May levels for the Nuovo Mercato (18.9%).

The capitalisation of national listed companies rose from €478.5 billion at the end of May to €481.4 billion (representing 36.9% of GDP and higher than the figure of €458.0 billion posted at the end of 2002). In detail, a breakdown of the markets shows the Stock Exchange with a figure of €470.4 billion, the Nuovo Mercato at €6.1 billion and the Mercato Ristretto at €4.9 billion.

Eni proved to be the listed company with the highest capitalisation (€53.50 billion), followed by Telecom Italia (51.84), Tim (36.87), Enel (33.38) and Unicredito Italiano (26.44).

The number of listed companies remained stable at 287. The list was affected in June by the admission of Hera for trading on the Stock Exchange (the second placement of 2003) and the delisting of Banca Popolare dell'Adriatico from the Mercato Ristretto following the conclusion of the tender offer launched by San Paolo-Imi. In detail, the listed companies include 230 on the Stock Exchange (including 6 foreign companies), 44 on the Nuovo Mercato (2 foreign) and 13 on the Mercato Ristretto.

The number of instruments listed on the MCW is 1,869.

June saw a recovery in activity on the primary market. The placement involving the admission of Hera for trading received a good response from retail and institutional investors, who equitably divided the 305 million shares offered (38.7% of the overall capital) thereby raising €380 million for the selling shareholders (the offer was entirely for sale).

In June, the capital increase operations for eBiscom (convertible bonds), Reno De Medici, Camfin, Pirelli&C and AemTorino were completed. Before the auction of unexercised rights, these raised a total of €1,272 million (122, 66, 160, 810 and 114 million respectively). The percentage of unexercised rights - with the exception of the first operation (49.1%) - was very low, these being 8.4%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 1.2% respectively.

Total capital raised in the first half of the year (16 capital increases and 2 IPOs) amounted to €5.03 billion, of which €4.62 billion went directly to listed companies.

In June, the voluntary tender offers of San Paolo-Imi for Banca Popolare Adriatico, Wide Design for Italdesign Giugiaro and Deutsche Lufthansa AG for Air Dolomiti (compulsory) were completed and returned to the market a total of €309.1 million (74.1, 209.7 and 25.3 million respectively).

Trading grew in comparison with the previous month with a daily average of 148,600 contracts (+2.8%) and €3.29 billion (+29.7%). A comparison with June 2002 shows a growth of 4.6% for contracts and 21.2% for turnover. The overall turnover for June (€69,121 million) was the highest since November 2000, putting the month at sixth place in the all-time classification.

In the first half of 2003, the daily average for contracts was 153,000 and the average daily turnover was €2.76 billion (-0.5% and +8.4% on the corresponding period in 2002). In June, the daily average was 139,800 contracts and €3.26 billion for shares listed on the Stock Exchange (+2.2% and +29.6% compared with May) and 8,500 contracts and €33.0 million for Nuovo Mercato shares (+14.6% and +44.1% compared with May).

The average size of stock contracts (Stock Exchange, daytime trading) rose significantly from €18,600 in May to €23,700. This is the highest figure since June 1998 and a sign of the increase in institutional and professional trading.

Eni was the most traded share in terms of turnover, with 16.8% of total trading, followed by STMicroelectronics (12.2%) and Tim (8.3%). In the first half of the year, the most traded securities in terms of number of contracts were STMicroelectronics (11.9% of the total), Generali (5.4%) and Eni (5.2%), and, in terms of turnover, Eni (12.7%) STMicroelectronics (12.1%) and Tim (9.8%).

Trading in covered warrants remained stable at May levels both in terms of traded contracts (daily average 17,700, +0.3% on May) and turnover (daily average €35.6 million, +2.8% on May). In the first half of the year, the daily average was 18,800 contracts and €35.3 million.

After hours trading also remained at the levels achieved in the previous month, with a daily average of 4,700 contracts and €27.0 million. In the first half of the year, the daily average was 5,500 contracts and €28.0 million.

With regard to trading in fixed-income securities on the Mot, Government securities posted a daily average of €516 million (-7.6% on May) whilst the figure for private bonds was €38.3 million (-5.6%). In the first half of 2003, the daily average for trading in Government securities reached €522 million, whilst the average for private bonds was €41.2 million. The EuroMOT confirmed in June the volumes reached in the previous month by achieving its second best ever result following the historical highs reached in May 2003 with a daily average of 701 contracts and €17.2 million. In the first half of 2003, average daily turnover was €16.4 million, +84.9% compared with the corresponding period last year.

Trading in equity derivatives on the Idem recorded further increases in June, a month affected by settlement dates. The daily average for futures on the Mib30 was 20,000 standard contracts, 10,900 for the miniFIB and 10,100 for options on the Mib30.

Trading in stock futures - traded since last July - achieved a new historical high for the third consecutive month, with an average of 5,100 standard contracts a day (+26.1% on May), whilst stock options leapt to their sixth best ever result with 37,500 standard contracts a day (+22.6% on May, +8.5% on June 2002). On Thursday 20 June, stock futures achieved a total of 54,633 contracts representing a new historical high for standard contracts traded in a single session.

With reference to the entire Idem market, the monthly figure of 83,600 standard contracts a day (second best month in 2003 and third best ever) shows a rise of 9.7% on the previous month and 5.1% on June 2002.

In the first half of 2003, the daily average of the Idem was 77,500 standard contracts, representing an increase of 20.9% on the corresponding period in 2002. In detail, all the instruments recorded growth: futures on the Mib30 (19,200 standard contracts a day, +2.8% on the first half of 2002), miniFIB (11,800, +65.9%), options on the Mib30 (10,900, +27.3%), stock futures (2,600) and stock options (33,000, +11.2%).

Milan, 8 July 2003