(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari veers slightly lower Tuesday in mid-day after an upbeat opening ahead of the release of U.S. inflation data due this afternoon. The rest of the European stock markets, however, continue to follow a bullish trend.

Thus, the FTSE Mib veers just below par at 27,399.58, the Mid-Cap rises 0.2 percent to 43,673.45, the Small-Cap advances 0.1 percent to 27,353.64, and Italy Growth is in the red 0.1 percent to 9,148.44.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.2 percent as is Frankfurt's DAX and London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.1 percent.

In macroeconomic news, the ZEW indicator of economic sentiment for the Eurozone fell further into negative territory to minus 10 in June from minus 9.4 in May, compared with market forecasts of minus 11.9.

This was the lowest reading since December last year, amid continued concerns about still high inflation and the prospect of further rate hikes by the ECB.

On the Mib, the banking sector suffered, with BPER Banca and Banco BPM down 0.8 percent.

UniCredit and Instesa Sanpaolo also hurt, falling back 0.6 percent.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena recovers and after opening in the red, now rises with 0.6%.

Enel does worst of all and gives up 1.0%. On Monday, it appointed Stefano De Angelis as manager in charge of drafting corporate accounting documents, taking over from Alberto De Paoli.

Telecom Italia, after reacting with a 1.8% drop to the receipt of new offers from KKR on the one hand and CDP-Macquarie on the other for the network, today gives up 0.2%. The two non-binding offers, as explained by the company in a note, will be considered by TIM's board of directors at meetings scheduled for June 19 and 22.

On the Mid-Cap, MFE's class A stocks take the top spot, rising 6.0 percent while the B stocks are up 4.6 percent. As for the rest of the Berlusconi empire, quieter Mondadori with a 0.3% rise while Banca Mediolanum on the Mib is down slightly and gives up 0.1%.

"The market is betting on a reorganization of the approximately EUR6 billion empire left by the founder of private TV in Italy, starting precisely with the former Mediaset televisions," commented Francesco Bonazzi. "All the spotlights are on the holding company Fininvest, the parent company, of which Silvio Berlusconi held a 61.2% stake that will now be at the center of the Forza Italia founder's will. The prized piece remains Mediaset, 50% controlled by Fininvest and where there is a complicated guest to manage as the Vivendi group, which controls 16% through the Simon trust and then has another 3.9% directly."

In Fininvest, the president is the Cavaliere's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi, and the other children Piersilvio, Barbara and Luigi appear on the board of directors (Eleonora preferred to stay out). At MFE, Piersilvio is as CEO, while Marina heads Mondadori.

Maire Tecnimont - down 0.6% - announced Tuesday that its subsidiary NextChem, part of the Sustainable Technology Solutions business unit, and the Marcegaglia Group have signed an agreement for a feasibility study to accelerate the decarbonization of Marcegaglia's Ravenna steel plant.

Safilo Group is on par at EUR1.31 per share after announcing Monday an evolution in its organizational structure, with the aim of supporting the implementation of the group's strategic plan "to continue to grow in a key market such as North America and accelerate business in the sports channel."

Francesco Rinaldi Ceroni was appointed president of Safilo's Global Sport Division, "thanks to his experience and knowledge of the sports segment as well as his commitment to innovation and sustainability," the company explained.

Fincantieri gives up 0.8 percent after announcing that, as part of the governmental and industrial cooperation program between Italy and Germany related to the U-212A class of submarines, it has signed a contract with the Naval Armaments Directorate of the General Secretariat of Defense and National Armaments Directorate for on-demand assistance to German Navy vessels.

The contract will run for five years and will replicate the on-demand service model that Fincantieri operates on Italian Navy vessels, that is, intervening on call to ensure the highest performance of the units.

Among the small-cap companies, Piquadro climbs 0.5 percent after approving its draft financial statements for the fiscal year from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, which closed with a net profit of about EUR6.5 million, an improvement of about EUR2.1 million from the year ended March 31, 2022.

II group recorded a turnover of EUR175.6 million, up 18 percent from the same period in the previous year that ended at EUR149.4 million.

The Piquadro group reported positive Ebitda of approximately EUR27.7 million in the year ended March 31, 2023, an increase of approximately EUR2.4 million compared to the figure recorded for the year ended March 31, 2022 of EUR25.3 million.

Gequity is on par at EUR0.0124. The company ended 2022 with a loss of EUR1.8 million, which compares with a loss of EUR2.7 million in the previous year.

As for revenues, these amounted to EUR3.8 million from EUR4.0 million in the previous year. Ebitda is negative EUR1.3 million essentially unchanged from 2021.

Newlat Food picks up 0.8 percent after announcing on Friday that it sold 3.9 million of its own shares, or about 8.9 percent of the share capital, to a group of institutional investors, including Helikon Investments and Banor, at a price of EUR5.80 per share, broadly in line with current market prices and the IPO price.

The same investors also signed an option agreement to purchase, under certain conditions, the remaining portion of treasury shares held by the company.

Among the SMEs listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, TrenDevice rises to the top with 9.3 percent after announcing that it has approved its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, having reported a loss of EUR1.4 million, worse than the loss of EUR961,000 reported in the same period of the previous year.

Revenues amounted to EUR19.8 million, up 25 percent from EUR15.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2021.

Fenix Entertainment is among the worst performers, giving up 8.8 percent after announcing on Sunday that the board of directors approved the group's draft operating and consolidated financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2022, which closed with a loss of EUR5.5 million compared to about EUR528,000 in profit a year earlier.

Value of production was EUR36.4 million, compared to EUR43.8 million in the previous year

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei rallied 1.8 percent, while the Shanghai Composite closed in the green by 0.2 percent and the Hang Seng finished up 0.6 percent.

In New York, the Dow closed up 0.6 percent to 34,066.33, the Nasdaq rose 1.6 percent to 13,461.92 and the S&P 500 was up 0.9 percent to 4,338.93.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0796 against USD1.0748 in Monday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.0807 from USD1.2510 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD73.00 per barrel versus USD71.77 per barrel on Monday night. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,964.45 an ounce from USD1,949.76 an ounce last night.

Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar features OPEC's monthly report at 1300 CEST.

Inflation also coming from the US, at 1430 CEST, before the day closes with weekly oil stocks, due out at 2230 CEST.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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