(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari is expected to fall slightly at the start of trading Wednesday, in line with the lackluster trend also seen on other European bourses before the bell rings.

The FTSE Mib is given down 35.0 points or 0.1 percent after closing down 0.1 percent at 29,376.74 Tuesday evening.

London's FTSE 100 is expected down 24.1 points or 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is shown in the red 12.5 points or 0.2 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is expected up 8.2 points or less than 0.1 percent.

In Milan last night, the Mid-Cap rose 0.3% to 41,748.09, the Small-Cap closed just above par at 25,990.80, and the Italy Growth gained 0.3% to 7,887.42.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, Iveco Group-among the few bullish performers-went up 2.6 percent after announcing Monday that the European Investment Bank has granted financing of up to EUR500 million to contribute to electrification, efficiency and safety in the transport sector through investment in research, development and innovation.

Good purchases were also made on ERG, which confirmed the good performance it had started since the bell rang. The stock closed up 1.6 percent at EUR26.14 per share, its third straight session finished among the bullish.

Also on a positive note was Banca Monte dei Paschi, which brought home a 1.2 percent gain. On the stock, Marshall Wace cut its short position to 0.74 percent from 0.83 percent.

Inwit, on the other hand, gained 3.5 percent, doing best of all. The company, which is proceeding steadily with its buyback program, most recently reported Monday that it bought back -- between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24 -- ordinary shares worth a total of about EUR857,000.

Telecom Italia closed in the red by 0.6 percent. The company kicked off the organization of the so-called NetCo, the business unit that will be contributed to FiberCop at the closing of the transaction to sell the fixed network to KKR, scheduled for summer 2024.

The business unit "will include the fixed network infrastructure and relevant real estate, the management of which it will be in charge of, the wholesale business and the entire stake in the subsidiary Telenergia," the company specified in a note.

DiaSorin, meanwhile, gave up 2.8 percent to EUR85.16 per share, in its fourth bearish session in a row.

On the Mid-Cap, Sesa gave up 0.9%, on the heels of eve's 2.4% loss.

Brunello Cucinelli, meanwhile, contracted 3.4 percent, priced at EUR74.45. The company -- which will switch to trade on the Mib in December -- closed Monday's session down 0.8 percent.

LU-VE gave up 2.0%, veering into negative after two sessions closed higher.

Marble Bar Asset Management revised its short on Industrie De Nora up 0.82 percent from 0.78 percent, with the stock closing up 0.4 percent.

OVS, on the other hand, gained 1.2 percent. On the stock, Marshall Wace revised its short position to 0.93% from 0.89%.

Lottomatica rose 1.1%. The company reported that it has priced a EUR500 million floating-rate bond maturing in 2030 at an issue price of 99.5 percent, with a coupon equal to the sum of the three-month Euribor rate--subject to a floor of 0 percent--plus 4.00 percent per annum.

The offering is scheduled to close on December 14, subject to customary closing conditions.

On the Small-Cap, Olidata positioned itself in the top tier with a 4.6 percent rise. The company signed a deal with Snam worth EUR25 million. The deal provides for Olidata's support-through its Sferanet controlalta-for most of its Data Center, Data Management and Security, and Network Security components, and Snam's option to purchase according to its own plans.

Gefran, on the other hand, closed up 2.2 percent, with the company proceeding steadily with its buyback program. Lastly, it disclosed that it bought back its own ordinary shares-between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24-for a total value of about EUR81,000.

Among SMEs, Italia Independent rose about 8.6 percent, after closing down 7.9 percent in the previous session.

expert.ai, on the other hand, appreciated 4.0%, in its fifth session in a row on the bullish side.

Circle--up 4.9 percent--reported Monday evening the approval by FILSE on behalf of Regione Liguria of the "TULIP" project, an acronym for Terminal and mUltimodal Logistic Innovations for the Port and hinterland environment. The 18-month project awards Circle a grant of about EUR220,000 and will have a positive impact on several logistics sectors, starting with port terminals and inland nodes.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed Wednesday down 0.3 percent to 33,321.22, the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.6 percent to 3,021.69 and the Hang Seng was down 2.4 percent to 16,932.27.

In New York on Tuesday evening, the Dow closed up 0.2 percent to 35,416.98, the Nasdaq rose 0.3 percent to 14,281.76 while the S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent to 4,554.89.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0994 against USD1.1002 recorded in Tuesday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2704 from USD1.2703 on Tuesday evening.

Brent crude is worth USD81.90 per barrel versus USD81.99 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD2,045.35 an ounce from USD2,035.78 an ounce on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar includes, at 1000 CET, the arrival of Italy's business and consumer confidence data. An hour later will be the turn, again from Italy, for the release of the producer price index.

At 1110 CET, an auction of Italian bonds with five- and 10-year maturities is scheduled while, at 1200 CET, it will be the turn of Italian industrial sales.

At 1300 CET from the US will come the mortgage market report, while from Germany will come the inflation figure at 1400 CET from Destatis.

At 1430 CET are coming the US GDP, at 1630 CET oil stocks, EIA report and Cushing's inventory. At 1945 there will instead be a speech by FOMC member Mester.

On the corporate calendar, the results of H-Farm are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

Comments and questions to redazione@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News IS Italian Service Ltd. All rights reserved.