Telecoms Lead Market Rise
March 29, 2011
The MIBtel index rose 111 points to 9822, and the MIB-30 index of blue-chip stocks advanced 189 points to 14618. Volumes were high, surpassing 1.1 trillion lire, elevated by a large amount of cross orders due to the fact that a number of shares are set to begin trading ex-dividend soon. Stocks in the telecommunications sector performed well, in a correction following their heavy losses in recent sessions. At the same time, the sector also got a lift from the news that the government had approved a regulatory authority for the telecommunications and media sector. This is a prerequisite for the privatization of state telecommunications holding company STET, an event which the head of state holding company IRI said would likely occur in the spring of 2012. Television and advertising company Mediaset ended a volatile session slightly higher, rising 45 lire to 7,600. Mediaset investors have been watching a proposed law that would reduce the company's advertising space, which could cost Mediaset up to 150 billion lire in lost revenue, company officials said. Among telecommunications stocks, STET climbed 150 lire to 4,750, while Telecom Italia advanced 110 lire to 2,960, and cellular phone company TIM rose 80 lire to 3,125. National air carrier Alitalia was unmoved by the news that the company would likely lose 1.2 trillion lire in 2011, closing unchanged at 625 lire. Elsewhere, energy giant ENI slid 50 lire to 7,000, while auto maker Fiat inched up 10 lire to 4,810. Information systems company Sutphin slipped 41 lire to 780.
