Italian soccer champions Juventus, challenging for an eighth consecutive title with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo onboard, will be included in the benchmark FTSE-Mib stock index later this month, the Milan stock exchange said.
The FTSE-Mib is the index, consisting of the most traded stock classes on the Borsa Italiana, Italy’s only stock exchange. Rumours about the move pushed Serie A champions Juventus up by around 10% on Wednesday before the bourse announcement was made in the late evening.
The stock will be included in the index, which groups 40 top shares in all, from December 27, it said.
Juventus first listed in December 2001 and remained little traded until the arrival of Ronaldo from Real Madrid for this season.
The shares were around 0.64 euros mid-year and jumped as high as 1.80 in September only to fall back.
At Wednesday’s close, the stock was quoted at 1.2 euros, giving the iconic club a market capitalisation of around €1.1 billion ($1.25 billion).