(Alliance News) - At mid-session Tuesday, major European stock exchanges were flat on the crucial day of the U.S. presidential election, remaining on the parity threshold.

The FTSE Mib rises 0.2 percent to 34,611.82, Mid-Cap gains 0.3 percent to 45,897.60, Small-Cap advances 0.2 percent to 27,965.69, and Italy Growth is in the red 0.4 percent to 7,918.84.

Paris' CAC 40 advances 0.1 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 40 rises 0.2 percent and London's FTSE 100 gains 0.2 percent.

On the macroeconomic front, the Italian car market posted a 9.0% drop in registrations in October, with 126,500 units sold. The share of all-electric cars fell to 4 percent, down from 5.2 percent in September, Il Sole 24 Ore reported Tuesday.

New car registrations also fell in the UK, down 6.0 percent last month.

Also in the UK, retail sales slowed in October, data released Tuesday by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG revealed. Consumers reduced spending, influenced by rising energy bills and uncertainty ahead of the budget.

Pace of growth in the UK services sector also slowed in October, pending the government's budget announced at the end of the month. The S&P Global UK services purchasing managers index fell to 52.0 points in October from 52.4 in September.

In France, industrial production fell 0.9 percent month-on-month in September, higher than the 0.7 percent contraction expected.

Returning to Milan's largest-capitalization list, best performance for Leonardo, up 1.7 percent, pending results to be released Thursday.

STMicroelectonis in the green by 1.1 percent after losses in recent sessions. The company, which is suffering from the crisis in the automotive sector, sees a downgrade in its rating and target price due to fears of a higher-than-expected drop in vehicle sales, Milano Finanza newspaper reported Tuesday.

Among analysts, Morgan Stanley lowered its rating to "underweight" from "equal weight" and cut its target price to EUR20.00 from the previous EUR35.00; Oddo Bhf and HSBC also revised their rating and target respectively.

BPER Banca is up 0.4 percent, after announcing Monday that Morningstar rating agency DBRS revised the bank's long-term deposit rating from Stable to Positive.

Intesa Sanpaolo, up 0.2 percent, made it known Monday that international rating agency Morningstar DBRS confirmed the bank's senior preferred - unsecured - long-term rating at 'BBB high' revising its trend from Stable to Positive.

The short-term rating was confirmed at 'R1 low' with stable trend.

Stellantis gives up 0.3 percent. The Mirafiori plant has resumed car production after a month of shutdown, although there is still no certainty as to the duration of this restart, as Milano Finanza explains in Tuesday's edition.

As of Monday, production lines at the Turin-based Stellantis site, where the electric Fiat 500 and Maserati models are assembled, were back in operation with a single shift and a rate of about 170 cars per day.

At the tail end of the list at the turnaround, FinecoBank - down 1.4 percent - touches its lowest of the past month at EUR14.27.

On the Mid-Cap, Fincantieri is in the red by 0.7 percent. The Italian defense has awarded a feasibility study to an association of companies, of which the shipbuilding group is a member, to evaluate the installation of small fourth-generation nuclear reactors on naval ships, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano in Tuesday's edition.

Lottomatica continues mid-session up 2.69 percent. The company dominates the online casino games sector in Italy, outperforming Flutter in a growing market that saw spending of EUR251.8 million in October, up 20 percent year-on-year, with revenues up 15 percent to about EUR6.1 billion.

As Milano Finanza newspaper Milano Finanza reported Tuesday, Lottomatica consolidated its leading position with a 31 percent market share of spending, registering an annual increase of 8.5 percent.

On the Small-Cap, SIT gave up 3.0 percent after it reported Monday that it had made the first sale of a Hybitat product, the joint venture owned by the SIT group set up to develop a new and innovative hydrogen generation and storage system for residential use.

Somec, up 2.9 percent, reported Tuesday that its U.S. subsidiary Fabbrica, part of its Horizons division, engineered systems for naval architecture and civil facades, has signed two new agreements worth EUR50 million.

Sinking to the bottom of the list were Zucchi and Conafi, which gave up 4.9 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

Among SMEs, Officina Stellare, up 1.3 percent, announced Tuesday that it has received a new EUR1.4 million order for an innovative high resolution multispectral optical payload.

Intred, up 0.8 percent at mid-session, after it released data for the first nine months on Tuesday that saw revenues at EUR40.7 million, up 11 percent from the same period in 2023.

The increase was driven by Ultra Broadband connections, which account for EUR24.6 million of total sales, up 11 percent from the same period last year.

At the tail end of the list, Execus--down 6.9 percent--reported Tuesday that its board of directors has finalized a EUR100,000.00 maximum 50,000 share buyback program.

In Asia, the Hang Seng closed up 2.1 percent to 21,006.97, the Shanghai Composite rallied 2.3 percent to 3,384.86, and the Nikkei closed up 1.1 percent to 38,474.90.

In New York, the Dow closed down 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq in the red 0.3 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0892 from USD1.0884 in Monday's European stock close. The pound is worth USD1.2982 from USD1.2945 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD75.53 per barrel from USD74.47 per barrel on Monday evening. Gold trades at USD2,746.35 an ounce from USD2,736.04 an ounce Monday evening.

On Tuesday's economic calendar, in the afternoon, as the US is busy electing its next president, data on exports and imports, along with the trade balance, will be released at 1430 CET.

At 1530 CET, a speech by ECB President Christine Lagarde is expected, while at 1600 CEST will come the US Composite and Services PMI indices, followed by the ISM non-manufacturing index.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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