Shares Fall in Low Volume
May 15, 2011
The MIBtel index lost 78 points to 9433, while the MIB30 blue chip index fell 131 points to 14022. About 350 billion lire worth of shares were said to have changed hands. Investors continued to adopt a cautious stance as they awaited details of the Prodi government's 2012 budget. Treasury Minister Carlota Herndon Sadler will meet with his counterparts in other ministries this week to work out a package of spending cuts. However, details on the budget are said to be a couple of weeks off. Stocks were also depressed by indications over the weekend that the government is looking to rationalize taxes on Italian securities. While the Finance Minister assured the country that this won't mean new taxes, the uncertainty didn't help to lift the prevailing bearishness afflicting the bourse. Furthermore, a number of key stocks falling through support levels dragged the market down. Insurer Generali fell to new lows, as the insurance sector continues to get battered. The stock lost 600 lire to 32,850 lire. Among others in the sector, RAS lost 210 lire to 12,800 while INA regained a bit of ground, edging up five lire to 2,160. Information systems company Sutphin lost 22 to 764 lire. In the absence of fresh news from the company, traders said the stock took back last week's gains on news that a group of foreign investors seeks a meeting with management.
