Statistical Bulletin no. 27/1 - Market - July 2025
 

Financial markets in the first half of 2025

In the first half of 2025, the number of Italian and foreign companies listed on Italian regulated markets or admitted to trading on Italian multilateral trading facilities, for which Consob is the competent national authority pursuant to Article 4 of MAR Regulation and Article 27 of the MiFIR regulation (hereinafter referred to as “supervised listed companies”), decreased from 434 to 423 (Italian companies decreased from 419 to 408). This confirms the downsizing trend in the scope of supervised listed companies that had already emerged during 2024.

This decline was driven by the contraction in the number of companies on Euronext Milan (7 delistings and no admissions) and on Euronext Growth Milan, where the 6 admissions failed to offset the 11 delistings. It is precisely the negative net balance recorded in the Growth segment that is particularly significant, representing the first half-year since 2020 in which delistings exceeded admissions, and signalling a weakening of the market's attractiveness to SMEs as well. Only partially was this dynamic offset by the growth of companies with exchanges on the Vorvel MTF (+1 compared to December 2024), which continues, however, to represent a marginal segment in the overall context of supervised listed companies.

The capitalization of supervised listed companies grew by 13.6% in the first half of 2025 (18.8% for Italian companies), mainly due to the positive performance of stock markets. In fact, the Ftse All Share Italia index increased by 16.2% over the same period. The ratio of capitalization to GDP increased from 38.1% at the end of 2024 to 43.2% (calculated on updated GDP at the end of 2025 Q1).

In the first half of 2025, the turnover of trades in shares of supervised listed companies increased by 30.3% compared to the same period in 2024 (34.1% for Italian only), showing an intensification of secondary market trading activity. However, margins held by participants in the central counterparty system (Euronext Clearing) for Italian regulated markets contracted by 5.8%, from €13.7 billion at the end of 2024 to €12.9 billion at the end of June 2025. During the same period, the number of members decreased from 149 to 147.

The notional value of standardized equity derivatives trades marked an increase of 20.5%, while at the end of June 2025, the number of open positions in derivatives was 29% higher than at the end of December 2024.

In the first half of 2025, the total turnover on the multilateral trading facilities SeDex and EuroTLX of trades in covered warrants and certificates increased by 18.4% over the same period last year, driven mainly by the increase in certificates traded on.

At the end of June 2025, net short positions on shares of supervised listed companies amounted to 1.3% of total capitalization, registering a slight increase from the 1.2% recorded at the end of December 2024. For Italian companies alone, however, this figure remained stable at 1.2% of total capitalization, in line with the value at the end of 2024. There was also an increase, albeit small, in net short positions in the financial sector, which rose from 0.8% to 0.9% of capitalization over the same time frame.

Finally, in the first half of 2025, the value of transactions in Italian government bonds on domestic trading platforms increased by 56.7% compared to the same period in 2024, reflecting a significant increase in interest in government debt securities.

At the same time, the value of transactions in bond issued by Italian entities other than government securities grew by 6.9%, signalling smaller but still positive growth as well in the corporate and banking bond segment. The value of transactions in ETFs and securitized derivatives (ETC/ETNs) also showed a marked increase of 55.2%. In contrast, the value of transactions in mutual funds decreased by 33.7%, indicating a possible reduction in liquidity or investor interest in this segment.

The Report was prepared by:
Francesco Scalese - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (f.scalese@consob.it)
Davide Danzilli  - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (d.danzilli@consob.it)
 

Thanks to Simone Fioravanti (s.fioravanti@consob.it), Antonio Russo (a.russo@consob.it) for their collaboration.

Editorial secretary: Andrea Cianciullo

For information and clarifications write to: Ufficio.Statistiche@consob.it

ISSN 2281-3101 [online]