Election jitters weigh on Milan, other markets mixed
Standard & Poor's warning worries Italian equity investors
20 February, 19:37
(ANSA) - Milan, February 20 - Uncertainty continued to haunt
European financial markets on Wednesday, with Italy's major
index weighed down by election concerns.On the Milan Stock Exchange, weakness in banks and telecom stocks also pulled the FTSE Mib down by 0.82% in trading, to end the day at 16,527 points.
However, the Italian bond spread with the German benchmark remained stable, closing the day at 277 basis points while the yield on 10-year paper stood at 4.43%.
Fears over the outcome in the Italian vote were solidified by warnings from ratings agency Standard & Poor's, which said that Italy risks losing its momentum to continue necessary structural reforms after the upcoming election.
"We believe that there is a risk that after the elections...there may be a loss of momentum on important structural reforms to improve Italian growth prospects," said Moritz Kraemer of Standard & Poor's.
Italians vote on Sunday and Monday and although the centre right had been trailing Pier Luigi Bersani's centre left by double figures in the polls, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi managed to narrow the gap to under 5% in most polls before a pre-election blackout on the publication of opinion surveys kicked in earlier this month.
Berlusconi, a 76-year-old media magnate, now claims that the centre right has overtaken the centre left. The centre left dismissed the claim.
In other European markets, Frankfurt's DAX fell by 0.30% to reach 7,728.90 points while Paris's CAC 40 fell by 0.69% to close at 3,709.88 points, and Spain's IBEX 35 closed trading 0.76% lower at 8,163 points. Only London's FTSE 100 ended the trading day on a positive note, gaining 0.26% to close at 6,395.37.
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