Piazza Affari opened with little movement, taking a breather following its recent peaks in line with the cautious tone of other European markets, as investors remain on the sidelines seeking further details regarding the preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran.

Market participants are also focused on tonight's Federal Reserve meeting, the first led by Kevin Warsh, from which no changes to interest rates are expected.

The press conference by the new head of the U.S. central bank represents the first opportunity to understand his imprint on American monetary policy, amid pressure from Trump for a reduction in borrowing costs and a macroeconomic backdrop where strong labor data and rising inflation would suggest a rate hike.

At 9:40, the Ftse Mib is down slightly by 0.2%, weighed down by energy and cyclical stocks but supported once again by the banking sector.

Among the banks, UNICREDIT rose by 1.2% after reaching 42.4% of Commerzbank on the final day of the exchange offer yesterday. BANCO BPM showed a similar tone, having yesterday initiated a discussion within its board regarding possible paths to counter the $30.6bn offer launched by INTESA (-0.7%) for MPS (-1.1%), involving UNIPOL (+0.1%).

With crude oil prices declining, ENI shed 1.8%. Weakness was also seen in utilities and STELLANTIS, which fell 1.9% following a profit warning from BMW. DIASORIN lost 1.3% after being downgraded to 'sell' by Deutsche Bank.

(Andrea Mandala, editing Gianluca Semeraro)