(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed on the brink of parity Tuesday, on a day not particularly rich in macro or corporate news and with traders seemingly waiting for moves from the European Central Bank and U.S. macro data before putting their hands in their wallets.

Axel Rudolph, Senior Technical Analyst at IG, said, "On Tuesday, equity indices were mixed as Chinese export growth fell short of forecasts and despite U.S. small business optimism reaching a more than three-year high. Traders awaited additional key catalysts such as Wednesday's U.S. consumer price index print. Some also cashed in on gains ahead of next week's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting and the holiday season."

"On the corporate front, Alphabet shares jumped about 5 percent after announcing a breakthrough in developing chips for quantum computing while Oracle slumped 7 percent after weaker-than-expected quarterly results."

The FTSE Mib lost 0.1 percent to 34,524.70, the Mid-Cap rose 0.4 percent to 48,255.17, the Small-Cap gave up 0.2 percent to 28,422.61, and Italy Growth fell 0.2 percent to 7,782.11.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 0.9 percent, Paris' CAC 40 lost 1.2 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 finished slightly lower.

On the highest-capitalization list in Piazza Affari, Eni lost 0.7 percent said Tuesday that it is too early to speculate on the causes behind the explosion at a company plant in Calenzano, in the province of Florence.

"Regarding the multiple hypotheses of the first hour that are emerging regarding the dynamics and causes of the accident, Eni confirms that it is cooperating closely with the judicial authority to identify as soon as possible, in a rigorous manner through the appropriate and thorough technical verifications, the real causes of the explosion, the nature of which it is absolutely premature to speculate."

Telecom Italia rises 0.2 percent to EUR0.2429. On the stock, BofA raised its target price to EUR0.37 from EUR0.35 while Barclays upgraded it to 'overweight' from 'equal weight', with a target price of EUR0.32.

Stellantis -- up 1.0% -- announced a business plan for the future of Italian factories, proposing a pact with component companies to tackle the green transition together.

Jean-Philippe Imparato, head of Stellantis' Europe division, said Italy is central to the group's strategy, with Mirafiori at the center of production. The plant will continue to produce the Fiat 500, including the hybrid in 2025 and the new electric generation in 2032-33, with an estimated increase of 100,000 cars.

Meanwhile, Tim Kuniskis, longtime Marchionne-era manager, returns to Stellantis to take over the Ram Truck brand, a few months after his retirement in May.

Enel rose 0.2 percent to EUR6.9360. Endesa CEO and vice chairman Flavio Cattaneo increased the total value of his holdings of shares in the two companies to about EUR32.0 million.

Generali -- in the red by 0.5 percent -- took over Palazzo Carciotti in Trieste, the historic insurance headquarters, for EUR13.2 million.

Snam, down 0.2 percent, announced Tuesday the signing of a new Sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for a total amount of EUR4.00 billion, with an option to increase to EUR1.10 billion.

Mediobanca Private Banking, a division of the Mediobanca Group -- up 0.2 percent -- raised EUR484.0 million for an innovative real estate co-investment program developed in collaboration with Mediobanca SGR and UBS Asset Management, Il Sole 24 Ore reported Tuesday.

At the bottom of the basket, Leonardo zeroes out its opening gains and gives up 1.2 percent after finishing Monday's session in the red by 4.8 percent. The possible cut announced by President-elect Trump to military aid for Ukraine weighs on the stock.

The Competition and Market Authority fined Hera -- down 0.4 percent -- for nearly EUR2.0 million and ComoCalor for EUR286,600 "for the application of excessively burdensome prices in the district heating sector," as specified in a press release issued by the authority.

Between May and June 2023, the Antitrust Authority had initiated three proceedings, concerning the networks of Ferrara - managed by Hera -, Como - under ComoCalor - and Parma and Piacenza, managed instead by Iren Energia. In these cases, the authority wrote, "a large part of the heat comes from sources other than natural gas," such as "from waste combustion in Como, waste combustion and geothermal energy in Ferrara."

On the Mid-Cap, Anima Holding rose 1.0 percent at the end of the session after the Caltagirone group increased its stake from 3.2 percent to 5.3 percent, consolidating Italian control over the asset management company that administers EUR205.2 billion.

Fincantieri - in the red by 0.1% - announced the relaunch of its Foundation with new missions, including defense of cultural heritage, innovation and social inclusion, renewing its board of directors.

OVS - up 0.5 percent - submitted a bid to take over Conbipel, a historic clothing chain with 130 stores and about 800 employees.

Still buying for Digital Value, up 12 percent and in its sixth straight session among the bullish, continuing the positive performance of the past 30 days.

On the Small-Cap, Beghelli's flight continues, up 42% to EUR0.3290 per share. Gewiss announced Tuesday that it had entered into a preliminary purchase and sale agreement with the Beghelli family, committing to purchase a 75% stake in the company's share capital.

Olidata is doing well, up 4.8 percent, with the stock at 30-day highs.

At the bottom, EPH plummeted 30 percent and doValue lost 12 percent.

Among SMEs, ESI is up 10 percent. The stock thus brings to positive performance over the past 30 days, attempting a recovery after falling 11% in the past six months and 31% in the past year.

Among the bullish performers, UCapital24 rises 9.2 percent.

Circle, down 1.0 percent, announced the signing of the grant agreement of the eFTI4ALL project, a major European initiative to improve the digitization of freight transport with the aim of facilitating the implementation of the eFTI regulation.

In New York, the Dow is up slightly to 44,420.98, the Nasdaq is up 0.2 percent to 19,778.81 and the S&P 500 is up 0.1 percent to 6,058.13.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0507 from USD1.0586 in Monday's European stock close. The pound is worth USD1.2744 versus USD1.2779 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD72.05 per barrel from USD71.78 at Monday night's close. Gold trades at USD2,687.65 an ounce from USD2,677.81 an ounce on Monday evening.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar opens with Japanese asset prices, coming in at 0050 CET, while the European morning looks unloaded in this respect, with only UK 10-year Gilt auctions taking center stage, at 1100 CET.

After the U.S. mortgage data, due out at 1300 CET, all eyes will be on U.S. inflation, arriving at 1430 CET, the main catalyst of the week along with the European Central Bank's decision, however, coming on Thursday.

At 1630 CET, all eyes will be on U.S. crude oil stocks while, at 2000 CET, attention will shift to the last relevant data of the day, the Federal Reserve's balance sheet.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the results of AbitareIn are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2024 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.