(Alliance News) – European stock markets opened lower on Tuesday, dragged down by renewed fears of a potential escalation in the conflict between Israel and Iran, which weighed heavily on investor sentiment.
The sell-off followed calls by US President Trump for the evacuation of Tehran and his early departure from the G7 summit, fueling speculation that Washington may be preparing to offer stronger support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military operations.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continued against Iranian targets, including missile depots and launch infrastructure.
The FTSE Mib retreated by 1.1% to 39,486.35 points.
Among the smaller indices, the Mid-Cap was down 0.7% at 53,549.86 points, the Small-Cap slipped 0.2% to 30,849.88 points, while the Italy Growth index bucked the trend, rising 0.4% to 8,102.09 points.
Across other major European exchanges, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.6%, Paris' CAC 40 dropped 1.0%, and Frankfurt's DAX lost 1.4%.
At Piazza Affari, among the few gainers was Saipem, up 1.1% to EUR2.37 per share. Notably, Citadel Advisors cut its short position on the stock to 1.27% from 1.30%.
Stellantis advanced 0.7% to EUR8.06 per share, building on the previous session's 0.7% gain.
Leonardo, on the other hand, slipped 1.8%, pulling back after three consecutive bullish sessions.
Prysmian fell 2.2% to EUR56.40 per share, following a 3.3% gain in the previous session.
On the Mid-Cap index, among the few risers was Garofalo Health Care, up 1.0% to EUR5.19 per share after closing 1.0% lower on Monday.
MAIRE – down 0.3% – announced Tuesday that its subsidiary NextChem and newcleo have signed a binding agreement to establish Nextcleo, a joint venture between NextChem and newcleo. According to a company statement, the aim is to develop the Conventional Island and Balance of Plant for new-generation commercial-scale nuclear plants based on newcleo's 200 MWe advanced modular reactor.
NextChem will hold 60% of Nextcleo's share capital, with newcleo owning the remaining 40%.
Lottomatica dropped 0.5%. Lottomatica Gamma Intermediate Sarl announced Tuesday that it had completed the placement of 53.6 million shares of Lottomatica Group, representing about 21.3% of the share capital, via a private placement through an accelerated bookbuilding offer.
The placement price for institutional investors was set at EUR22.50 per share, with settlement expected on or around June 19, according to a company statement. The total gross proceeds from the placement amount to approximately EUR1.20 billion.
Technoprobe declined 1.8% to EUR7.20 per share, after gaining 4.1% in the previous session.
On the Small-Cap index, Softlab surged 5.3% to EUR1.20 per share, following a 3.6% gain the previous day.
Digital Value climbed 4.9%, extending the previous session's 12% rally. The company announced it had been awarded five lots in a tender organized by Consip for the Multibrand Software Conventions, edition 7.
The Consip Multibrand Software – Edition 7 tender aims to provide the Public Administration with tools for digital management and innovation, fostering technological progress for users, citizens, and the country, according to the company. The total value of the lots is EUR158 million, of which EUR108.4 million is attributable to the group, plus over 20% in legal maximums upon exhaustion of lot capacity.
Dexelance – down 0.9% – reported Monday that it had repurchased 10,144 of its own ordinary shares between June 9 and 13. The shares were bought at an average price of EUR7.2691 each, for a total value of around EUR74,000.
Fidia was down 3.9%. Notably, since the start of 2025, the stock has seen its market cap depreciate by over 88%.
Among SMEs, Eprcomunicazione jumped 9.3% to EUR1.76 per share, following a 7.3% gain the day before and reaching a new 52-week high around EUR1.77.
Adventure rose 5.0% to EUR17.85, rebounding after four consecutive losing sessions.
Estrima, meanwhile, slipped 2.1%, bringing the price to EUR0.37 per share after two flat sessions.
On Wall Street last night, the Dow closed up 0.8%, the Nasdaq advanced 1.5%, and the S&P 500 ended 0.9% higher.
In Asia, the Nikkei ended up 0.6%, the Shanghai Composite closed just below flat, and the Hang Seng retreated 0.6%.
In currency markets, the euro was trading at USD1.1559, down from USD1.1591 Monday evening, while the pound was at USD1.3567 from USD1.3595 the previous night.
In commodities, Brent crude was trading at USD74.18 per barrel, up from USD71.15 at the previous close, while gold was at USD3,389.48 per ounce, down slightly from USD3,392.83 the day before.
On Tuesday, the economic calendar features the German ZEW economic sentiment index and the Eurozone economic sentiment survey at 11:00 CEST.
At 14:30 CEST, US core retail sales, export and import price indices, and retail control sales are due, followed by US industrial production at 15:15 CEST.
The day wraps up at 22:30 CEST with the release of weekly US crude oil inventories.
On the corporate front in Milan, OVS is scheduled to report results.
By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News Reporter
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