Borsa Italiana Monthly Flash – June 2004

The month of June saw a recovery in share prices, which brought the indices close to their annual highs. The Mib index ended the month at 20,580 (+3% on May 2004 and +5.6% on the end of 2003). This is the highest end-of-month figure since May 2002. The monthly high was achieved on Monday 28 with a figure of 20,636, just below the high for the year of 20,800 set in April. The continuous indices grew at different rates: the Mibtel +2.7% (+6.0% since the end of 2003), the S&P/Mib +2.7% (+4.5%), the Mib30 +2.4% (+5.6%) and the Midex +4.5% (+2.1%). The MibSTAR index ended the month with a new historical high of 1,032, representing a monthly change of +2.8% (+9.8% since the end of 2003). In its three and a half years of existence, the quality SME index has increased by 3.2%. In June, prices remained substantially stable on the Nuovo Mercato, with a change in the Numex index of -0.8%. Volatility started to fall towards its historical lows, reaching 7.0% for the MTA (the Electronic Equity Market) and 10.6% for the Nuovo Mercato.

The increase in share prices and the recovery of admissions to trading had positive effects on capitalisation, which rose from €498 to €518.2 billion, the highest value since June 2002. In detail, the MTA increased from €486.8 to €506.5 billion (returning after two years to above the 500 billion mark), the Nuovo Mercato remained stable at €6.9 billion and the Mercato Expandi rose from €4.3 to €4.8 billion. The GDP ratio jumped from 37.2% to 38.8%.

On the IDEM, the Italian Derivatives Market, single stock futures recorded their second best ever result in terms of standard contracts, with a daily average of 10,300.

On Friday 18 June, the date on which the IDEM derivatives matured, daytime trading in shares on the MTA recorded a new high for the year, with €7.26 billion (second most liquid session in the history of Borsa Italiana).

Trading in shares grew in terms of turnover during June (daily average of €2.95 billion, +4.1% on May). The first half of the year ends with a daily average of 143,000 contracts and turnover of €3.03 billion. The average size of stock contracts during daytime trading on the MTA also grew significantly to reach a new historical high of €28,800.

In June, the primary market saw the placements of Terna and DMT and the admission to trading of Procomac (MTA - start of negotiations on 6/7/04), Azimut (MTA - start of negotiations on 7/7/04) and Greenvision (Expandi). The first three of these operations raised €84, €1,700 and €19 million respectively. The same month saw the conclusion of the capital increases for Basicnet (raising €16.4 million, unexercised rights 46.5%), Lazio (€17.4 million and 90.8%), Reti Bancarie Holding (€629.7 million and 3.6%) and the private placement to institutional investors of Socotherm (10% of the capital, raising €20.3 million).

Following the placement of DMT and Terna, the total number of listed companies has increased to 276.

Trading in ETFs is stable with turnover remaining at the levels recorded in May, falling slightly from a daily average of €9.5 to €9.3 million. The growth trend in the average size of contracts is continuing, rising from €23,200 to €25,900.