Italian shares outperform broader Europe after election results

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Italian shares jumped nearly 1% on Monday, outperforming their regional peers as Telecom Italia and financial stocks advanced after the right-wing coalition led by Georgia Meloni looked set to win the country’s general election.

Italy’s FTSE Mib index rose 0.9% after slumping 4.7% last week in its worst weekly performance since early June.

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Shares in Telecom Italia gained 5.4%, while banks added 1.3% after the center-right coalition won a clear majority in both houses of parliament, potentially giving Italy a rare chance of political stability after years of upheaval and fragile coalitions.

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Meloni has also pledged to back Western policy on Ukraine and not take risks with Italy’s fragile finances.

“All in all, a result that is probably more market friendly than was initially feared, but which suggests the move we are seeing in equities is more of a relief rally rather than any vote of confidence per se,” said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital in London.

“We are seeing nothing more than a brief pause following the falls we saw last week. The economic outlook continues to look downbeat for equities and going forward we will further move lower, and this will apply to Italian stocks as much to any others.”

The continent-wide STOXX 600 index was down 0.4%, extending a rout from last week. Oil and gas and mining stocks fell 1.3% and 1.9%, respectively, as crude and metal prices dropped due to a surging dollar and fears of lower demand from an expected global recession.

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Germany’s main stock index dipped 0.1% after a survey showed German business sentiment sank further than expected in September.

The German economy is facing recession and almost all sectors are in the red, the Ifo surveys head Klaus Wohlrabe told Reuters on Monday.

The STOXX 600 has lost 6.2% so far this month, heading for its second straight month of decline, as Europe grapples with energy and cost of living crises amid the Russia-Ukraine war hampering gas flows and hawkish central bank moves to combat inflation.

Among single stocks, MediaForEurope rose 2.2% after Reuters reported that the Italian television group had teamed up with Iliad founder Xavier Niel to submit a non-binding offer to buy RTL Group’s stake in French TV company M6.

Belimo Holding jumped 7.8% after Berenberg upgraded the Swiss heating and ventilation solutions maker’s stock, saying the market was not fully pricing in the company’s growth potential amid rising renovation demand. (Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Subhranshu Sahu)