(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, the Piazza Affari blue chip index recovered in the latter part of the session, leading it to close the session in positive territory just below the 25,900 area.

Trading rooms assessed a range of economic data as well as, as usual, the outlook for monetary policy. The latest PMI data from the eurozone supported the idea of a milder economic downturn than previously feared, despite concerns about persistently high inflation and higher interest rates.

In this regard, as ABN-AMRO writes in a note, "we have changed our baseline scenario for the eurozone economy. We have revised upward our forecasts for GDP growth in the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 and lowered our forecasts for growth during the second half of 2023."

"We have lowered our forecast for overall inflation in 2023 to 4.5 percent from 5.1 percent, and we expect inflation to fall in line with the ECB's 2 percent target by the end of this year," the Dutch bank's economist pointed out.

Thus, the FTSE Mib closed in the green by 0.2 percent at 25,884.31.

Among the smaller listings, the Mid-Cap closed down 0.3 percent at 43,061.73, the Small-Cap closed just below par at 29,761.60, and Italy Growth up 0.5 percent at 9,609.67.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent, London's FTSE 100 gave up 0.4 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 lost 0.1 percent.

On the main segment, oil stocks fell. In fact, Saipem gives up 3.4 percent, while parent company Eni gives up 1.5 percent instead.

On this front-as Francesco Bonazzi points out in Alliance News-"Italy is bidding to become an energy hub for the whole of Europe, and Giorgia Meloni's government is increasingly espousing Eni's policy of geographic diversification, thanks to agreements with Algeria.

"Yesterday the Italian premier was accompanied on his official visit to Algiers by Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, whose confirmation at the top of the six-legged dog is now taken for granted. The role played by Eni during the time of Mario Draghi's government in urgently redesigning Italy's energy policy has also been favorably recognized by the new executive, and yesterday's mission was clear proof of this," explains the Alliance News columnist.

Also at a loss is Tenaris, which gives up 1.3 percent, following up its eve's loss with 1.8 percent.

Also going under, among others, is FinecoBank, which gives up 1.3 percent, following eve's red with 1.3 percent.

Among the positive notes - clear minority of the list - good session for Intesa Sanpaolo, which closes ahead 2.1% at EUR2.28. On the stock, Société générale raised its target price to EUR2.45 from EUR2.30 with a 'buy' recommendation.

On the Mid-Cap, green sees Enav, which picks up 2.1 percent and closes for the third session in a row in green.

Among the bearish, also a dominant color on this list, Technogym retreats 4.3%. On the stock on mentions that Citadel Advisors has a net short position of 0.61%.

Marr, on the other hand, goes down 2.6%, veering into negative after two straight sessions among the bullish.

Also in the rear is Banca Monte dei Paschi, which gives up 1.0% to EUR2.11 per share.

On the Small-Cap, KME Group stands out, closing ahead 8.4%. The stock recorded high volume, at with over 2.0 million units traded against a three-month daily average of about 261,000.

Netweek, on the other hand, gives up 0.5 percent, placing the price bar at EUR0.0418.

WorldQuant raises its short on Digital Bros to 0.70 percent from 0.62 percent. The stock closed 1.3% in the red.

Sales also prevail - among many bearish stocks - on d'Amico, which contracted 2.8% to EUR0.4025. The company disclosed Tuesday that its operating subsidiary d'Amico Tankers DAC in Ireland has exercised its call option on the MT High Explorer, a 50,000-ton "medium-range" tanker, built in May 2018 at Onomichi Dockyard Co, Ltd, Japan, for JPY4.1 billion, equivalent to about USD30.0 million, at the forward contract exchange rate used to hedge the currency exposure) and with estimated delivery in May 2023.

Among SMEs, CleanBnB brings home an 11 percent gain, following up the eve's green albeit with a more modest 1.9 percent. More than 111,000 pieces traded on the stock, compared with a three-month daily average of about 9,800.

Alfonsino still closes positive, with the day's balance closing at plus 13 percent. The stock has rallied sharply since the release of preliminary fiscal year 2022 data that showed clear growth for the company.

In the bearish trend with which the list closed, Fenix Enetrtainment gave up 5.3 percent to EUR2.16, on the heels of Monday night's red with a more restrained 0.9 percent.

Altea Green Power, on the other hand, gave up 4.8 percent, the subject of profit taking after two sessions in which it accumulated a green of more than 17 percent.

In New York--with stock exchanges in full trading mode--the Dow Jones is just below parity, the S&P is giving up 0.1 percent as is the Nasdaq.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0882 versus USD1.0860 at Monday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2332 from USD1.2365 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD86.62 per barrel from USD88.64 per barrel on Monday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,934.31 an ounce from USD1,922.18 an ounce last session.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, in the UK, the producer price index will be released again at 0800 CET while, at 0900 CET, from Italy, will come the trade balance. At 1000 CET, however, space will be given to the ifo index from Germany.

From the U.S., at 1300 CET, will come the 30-year mortgage rate, the EIA report at 1630 CET as well as the Cushing inventory and oil inventories.

At 1900 CET, an auction of five-year U.S. Treasury bonds will be held.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, results from Aeffe, De' Longhi, STMicroelectronics, and Salvatore Ferragamo are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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