(Alliance News) - European stock markets on Tuesday confirm expectations and open trading in negative territory ahead of the release of construction data in the Eurozone and some major European economies.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the red 0.3 percent to 26,785.76, the Mid-Cap drops 0.1 percent to 42,508.76, as does the Small-Cap to 27,364.26, and Italy Growth is in the green 0.1 percent to 9,152.33.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 1.0 percent, Frankfurt's DAX gives up 0.5 percent and London's FTSE 100 is down 0.1 percent.

In macroeconomic news, factory orders in Germany unexpectedly fell 0.4% in April, missing market estimates of a 3.0% increase and following a revised 10.9% decline in March.

This was the second consecutive month of declining industrial orders, dragged down by a 34 percent drop in demand for miscellaneous vehicle construction, which includes shipbuilding, rail vehicles, aircraft, spacecraft and military vehicles.

From Australia, the Reserve Bank on Tuesday unexpectedly raised the cash rate by 25 bp to 4.1 percent in June, after hiking rates by the same margin in May, keeping the door open for further tightening as inflation remained persistently high and wage growth increased.

The decision brought total rate hikes to 400 bp since May 2022, pushing borrowing costs to the highest level since April 2012 and defying market consensus for a pause.

On the main index of Piazza Affari, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena does best of all, trading in the green by 1.2 percent, confirming the trend already seen at the close of trading on Monday despite the difficulties in the banking sector especially after the words of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who said the bank is considering further interest rate hikes to fight inflation.

Still hurting is Pirelli, down 1.6 percent at the opening. A very important day for the company is expected for the global tire giant, one of the world's best-known Italian luxury brands. The top management of Camfin and Pirelli are scheduled to be heard at Palazzo Chigi as part of the process of analyzing the possible use of Golden Power, through which the government, even without having a single share in hand, can block corporate transactions that it deems harmful to Italy's strategic interests.

In this case, for example, it could result in the freezing of voting rights in the Chinese partner's shareholders' meeting, in favor of the Tronchetti Provera family's holding company.

DiaSorin gives up 0.1 percent, after letting it be known on Monday that the National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange has applied an administrative fine against the company for the disputed violation of the disclosure requirements of the "MAR Regulation," and another sanction against CEO Carlo Rosa.

The sanction applied to the company refers to the information disclosed to the market in press releases issued by DiaSorin itself on March 10, 2020 and April 7, 2020 regarding the completion of studies for the launch, respectively, of a molecular test and a serological test for the diagnosis and identification of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, information that - according to Consob's prospectus - the company should have classified as privileged.

In respect of the company, Consob imposed a fine of EUR100,000 while in respect of the Ad the fine amounts to EUR20,000, and the "consequent compulsory ancillary administrative sanction" consists of "temporary disqualification from carrying out functions of administration, management and control of listed companies, for two months."

On the Mid-Cap, Maire Tecnimont--down 0.3 percent--announced Thursday that its subsidiary KT-Kinetics Technology, part of the Integrated E&C Solutions business unit, was awarded preliminary engineering work for a new green fertilizer complex in North America by a group of private investors.

Edison -- which quotes only savings shares -- opens at par after reporting Monday that on June 2 the agency Moody's confirmed the company's long-term rating at Baa3 and changed the outlook from negative to stable, following an equivalent change in the outlook of EDF's Baa1 long-term rating.

The confirmation of Edison's Baa3 rating and the change in outlook "reflect the strong improvement in the company's credit profile, following the complete exit from E&P activities and the strategic focus on gas and renewable capacity development in Italy," a company note said.

Among the low-capitalization companies on Piazza Affari, Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi of Bologna is still not trading. The company reported Monday that it has returned to pre-pandemic passenger levels.

The monthly figure for May was also positive, with 923,263 passengers, up 12 percent on 2019 and 16 percent on 2022. In detail, in May, there were 227,149 passengers on domestic flights, up 31% over the same month in 2019 and 11% over May 2022, while there were 696,114 passengers on international flights, up 7.4% over 2019 and 18% over 2022.

KME Group is not yet affected by trading after it announced that, following the fulfillment of the conditions precedent stipulated in the agreement, KME SE, its main subsidiary, has executed the agreement signed with Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group regarding the sale of its 50 percent stake in the KMD Holdings joint venture and the purchase of 100 percent of the shares of KMD Connectors Stolberg.

Civitanavi Systems divests 0.5 percent. The company initiated the share buyback program authorized by the shareholders' meeting on April 27.

Thus, as of June 5 and until October 5, 2024, buybacks of up to 1.5 million of its own shares, corresponding to about 4 percent of its share capital, may be made for a maximum amount of EUR8.7 million.

Among SMEs, Technoprobe gives up 0.5 percent after the CEO, Stefano Felici, sold one million shares in the company. The shares were sold at a price of EUR7.2 for a total consideration of EUR7.2 million.

Lifestyle Group gives up 5.7 percent after announcing Monday that the board of directors approved the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2022 reporting a loss of EUR1.1 million down from the negative net result of EUR2.7 million in the year 2021.

Bifire rises 1.1 percent after announcing Monday that it has conferred the specialist operator mandate to Intesa San Paolo IMI SIM Spa, which will be operational as of Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green 0.9 percent to 32,506.78, the Hang Seng was down 0.3 percent to 19,060.37, and the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.2 percent to 3,195.34.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed 0.6 percent in the red at 33,562.86, the Nasdaq finished down 0.2 percent at 13,229.43, and the S&P 500 gave up 0.2 percent to 4,273.79.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0722 against USD1.0719 in Monday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2439 from USD1.2419 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD75.94 per barrel versus USD77.13 per barrel on Monday evening. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,959.66 an ounce from USD1,975.25 an ounce on Monday evening.

Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar includes, in Europe, the release of construction PMIs for the United Kingdom at 1030 CEST. For the euro area, eyes also on retail sales, due at 1100 CEST.

From the US, the EIA's energy forecast, at 1800 CEST, and weekly oil inventories, at 2230 CEST, are expected.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, no special events are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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