A good 2023 for Italian stock exchange, but could be even better

Ftse Mib is up nearly 30 percent, closing the year above 30,000 points, as it hasn’t been since before the Lehman Brothers crash. Piazza Affari’s 2023 goes on record with sparkling results, thanks in particular to the banking industry, which weights more than 20% of the index, and to some big caps like ENI and ENEL. Here is the FTSE 40 index during 2023

Also, IPO numbers were good. There were 39 admissions, with 36 companies making a valuation on the market, of which 32 are on the small list, Euronext Growth Milano (Egm), and 4 are on the main list, where the return of Lottomatica and the dual listing of Ferretti stand out. For a total raising of 1.561 million euros. Five, on the other hand, were the moves from EGM to the main market: 26 delistings and 20 IPOs. To which 12 capital increases were added. A result that places Borsa Italiana at the top of European markets in terms of the number of new placements. The most traded stock is Unicredit (equivalent to 74 billion euros with almost 5 million contracts).

Unfortunately, there are also shadows for 2023: volumes fell from 30 percent on the Star index to 50 percent on the Egm index. The BTP market was a great attractor for investors, and this cut the amount of money available to stock markets.

According to reports from Borsa Italiana, European leadership in terms of contracts traded on the Mot is confirmed: more than 31 thousand per day (+64.7 percent compared to 2022) with an average daily countervalue of €1 billion (+58.4 percent compared to 2022). Certainly the falling rates will help, but to revive Borsa Italiana, whose total capitalization stands at 761 billion euros and is equal to 39.4 percent of GDP, shock therapy is needed.

There is space for a good 2024: BTP yields are falling due to expectations of ECB rate cuts, and this would boost investment in Borsa Italiana. Unfortunately, Italian growth is lackluster, and austerity will make it less probable.