Spread yo-yos, Milan bourse up

(ANSA) - Rome, October 22 - The spread between Italy's BTP bond and the German Bund rose back up to 299 basis points on Monday, having dropped to 282 at one stage earlier in the day.
    The spread, an important gauge of investor confidence, closed on 301 points on Friday.
    The yield on the BTP was up to 3.45%.
    The Milan stock exchange's FTSE Mib index, meanwhile, gained 0.7% in early trading, lifting it to 19.213 points, although it had been up by around 2% at one point. Initially at least, investors did not appear spooked by Moody's announcement on Friday that it has downgraded Italy's credit rating to Baa3, with a stable outlook, citing concerns about the government's budget plans, which feature allowing the deficit up to 2.4% to rise to 2.4% of GDP next year.
    Analysts said investors were relieved that the rating was not taken down to junk status and the outlook was put at stable.