The following factors could affect Italian markets on Friday.
Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).
For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on .
POLITICS
Italy is seeking guarantees on fuel supply security from the Azeri government if the founding family of Italiana Petroli agrees a sale to Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR, two sources said on Thursday.
ECONOMY
ISTAT releases July retail sales data (0800 GMT).
Bank of Italy releases August data on Target 2 liabilities and European Central Bank funding to Italian banks.
DEBT
Treasury announces sale of 12-month BOT bills, with relative amounts to be auctioned on Sept. 10.
COMPANIES
FASHION
Designer Giorgio Armani, who helped to put Italy at the forefront of global fashion and dressed Hollywood stars, died at the age of 91, the company that he founded and led for five decades said on Thursday.
MEDIOBANCA MIL:MB, BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI (MPS) MIL:BMPS
MPS has secured 40.43% of Mediobanca's share capital, bourse data showed on Thursday.
MEDIOBANCA, BANCA GENERALI MIL:BGN
Fitch said on Thursday it had revised Mediobanca's Rating Watch to 'Negative' from 'Evolving' following the rejection of the takeover bid for Banca Generali by Mediobanca's shareholders.
UNICREDIT MIL:UCG
UniCredit respects German opposition to a full takeover of Commerzbank XETR:CBK, but shareholders would have the last word on any potential deal, the Italian bank's chief executive Andrea Orcel said on Thursday.
MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE MIL:MFEA
The TV group controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family said on Thursday it secured more than 75% of German peer ProSiebenSat.1 XETR:PSM following a takeover that sets it up to become Europe's largest free-to-air broadcaster.
POSTE ITALIANE MIL:PST, TIM MIL:TIT
The state-backed postal services group said on Thursday the Italian antitrust authority has granted unconditional green light for Poste Italiane MIL:PST to acquire an additional 15% in Telecom Italia, bringing the total holding in the former phone monopoly to 24.8%.
(*) SAIPEM (SPM.MI)
The merger between the Italian oilfield services company and the Luxembourg-based subsea engineering firm Subsea 7 OSL:SUBC can be only finalised if the new merged entity is listed in Oslo and antitrust requirements do not exceed a value of 500 million euros ($585.35 million), daily MF reported on Friday.
ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA NV NYSE:ZGN
Releases H1 results (1030 GMT), followed by conference call (1200 GMT).
DIARY
Cernobbio, The European House Ambrosetti starts business conference "Today's and tomorrow's scenario for competitive strategies"; ends on Sept. 7.
((Milan newsroom, e-mail: ))
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brackets:
20 biggest gainers (in percentage)(.PG.MI)20 biggest losers (in percentage)(.PL.MI)FTSE IT allshare index FTSE:ITLMS
- FTSE Mib index
- .FTMIB
FTSE Allstars index... FTSE:ITSTAR
FTSE Mid Cap index (.FTITMC)Block trades (.BLK.MI)Stories on Italy (IT-LEN)For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:
European Equities speed guide(EUR/EQUITY) FTSEurofirst 300 indexFTSE:E3X DJ STOXX indexTVC:SXXP Top 10 STOXX sectors(.PGL.STOXXS) Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors(.PGL.STOXXES) Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors(.PGL.FTEU3S) Top 25 European pct gainers(.PG.PEUR) Top 25 European pct losers(.PL.PEUR)Main stock markets:
Dow JonesDJ:DJI Wall Street report Nikkei 225TVC:NI225 Tokyo report FTSE 100CURRENCYCOM:UK100 London report Xetra DAXXETR:DAX Frankfurt market stories CAC-40EURONEXT:PX1 Paris market stories World Indices(0#.INDEX) Reuters survey of world bourse outlook(EQUITYPOLL1) Western European IPO diary(WEUIPO) European Asset Allocation Reuters News at a Glance: Equities Main currency report:($1 = 0.8542 euros)