Milan bourse closes up, spread reaches 246 points

(ANSA) – Rome, November 6 – The Milan stock exchange closed positive on Wednesday as the FTSE-Mib index added 0.89% to reach 19,262 points.

The spread, or the premium investors pay to hold Italian paper rather than AAA-graded German Bunds, closed at 246 points ahead of Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting and US GDP figures.

The spread is a key measure of Italy’s borrowing costs and of investor confidence in the country’s ability to weather the eurozone crisis.

Analysts said the market reacted positively as almost 23 billion euros in a new four-year inflation-linked bond were snapped up by mid-Wednesday, setting a new sales record and providing much-needed funding for the Italian government.

In Madrid, the IBEX index added 0.29% to close at 9,824.40 points. The Frankfurt DAX index rose by 0.3% to reach 9,040.87 points, and the Paris CAC-40 index climbed 0.79% to close at 4,286.93 points. London bucked the trend, with the FTSE-100 index shedding 0.08% to end the trading day at 6,741.69 points.