(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari marks a slight decline in the middle of Wednesday's session, in line with the trend of other European stock exchanges, after Eurozone inflation data showed a slowdown in consumer price growth.

The Eurozone's annual inflation rate stood at 6.9 percent in March, down from 8.5 percent in February, according to data released Wednesday by Eurostat. A year earlier, the inflation rate stood at 7.4 percent.

In March, the highest contribution to the Eurozone's annual inflation rate came from food, alcohol and tobacco at 3.1 percent, followed by services at 2.1 percent, non-energy industrial goods at 1.7 percent and energy down 0.1 percent.

The FTSE Mib falls 0.2% to 27,848.58, Mid-Cap gives up 0.3% to 44,001.64, Small-Cap is up 0.1% to 30,070.74, and Italy Growth is in the red 0.3% to 9,291.11.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 falls 0.4 percent to 7,878.80, Paris' CAC 40 is down 0.1 percent to 7,525.18 and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 0.1 percent to 15,862.53.

On the main list in Piazza Affari, before the opening, Saipem, which is now down 4.1 percent, reported that it was awarded a two-year contract extension from Eni -- down 1.6 percent -- for the use of the Santorini drillship.

The contract extension, which will give continuity to the current activity, will take effect from August 2023 and is worth about USD280 of million. This will be supplemented by additional income related to investment in plant improvements of about USD15 million.

Telecom Italia drops 5.1 percent after reporting Tuesday evening that it received improved offers for its network from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Spa-Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

In detail, CDP-Macquarie raised its bid from the initial EUR18 billion to EUR19.3 billion while KKR raised its bid on TIM's network to EUR19 billion plus possible EUR2 billion earn-out in case of a merger of TIM's and Open Fiber's networks.

Now, the ball is in the former monopolist's board, convened for May 4, which will have to decide which bid to accept. Vivendi, among TIM's largest shareholders, is not represented on the board, which continues to demand a network valuation of EUR31 billion and, according to rumors, could drop to no more than EUR26 billion.

FinecoBank is down 0.6 percent after announcing Tuesday that the S&P Global Ratings agency confirmed its long-term 'BBB' rating with a Stable outlook, while maintaining its short-term 'A-2' rating.

On the Mid-Cap, Maire Tecnimont gives up 0.8 percent. This morning, the company reported on Wednesday that some companies within the Sustainable Technology Solutions business unit, directly controlled by Nextchem Holding, have been awarded several new contracts for technology licenses and engineering services worth a total of about USD90 million.

MFE-MediaForEurope published results for 2022, having reported revenues falling to EUR2.80 billion from EUR2.91 billion in 2021.

Net income declines in the period, to EUR216.9 million from EUR374.1 million but still higher than the last pre-Covid figure in 2019 of EUR190.3 million. Adjusted net income, on the other hand, was EUR247.5 million. Despite this, the board thus decided to propose the distribution of a dividend of EUR0.05 per class A and B ordinary share. The former are up 1.1 percent while the latter are down 0.3 percent.

Acea -- up 0.8 percent -- announced Tuesday that the shareholders' meeting appointed a new board of directors, which will serve for three fiscal years, namely until the approval of the budget for the 2025 fiscal year.

Thus, Barbara Marinali - who was later confirmed as chairman of the board -, Fabrizio Palermo, Nathalie Tocci, Angelo Piazza, Elisabetta Maggini, Alessandro Picardi, Luisa Melara, Thomas Devedjian, Vincenza Patrizia Rutigliano, Alessandro Caltagirone, Massimiliano Capece Minutolo Del Sasso, Antonino Cusimano and Antonella Rosa Bianchessi were elected.

Webuild - in the red by 1.0 percent - reported Tuesday that its U.S. joint venture subsidiary Lane has been selected preferred bidder to exclusively carry out the study that will define the implementation of the project, to date estimated at USD1 billion in total value, for the modernization of "Tampa's Westshore Interchange."

On the Small-Cap segment, Eems Italia gives up 5.9 percent after approving its main results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, having reported a net loss of EUR2.3 million, from a loss of EUR287,000 in the same period last year.

Operating loss amounted to EUR2.2 million from a loss for EUR990,000 in 2021.

Elica--down 0.4 percent--reported Tuesday that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Ilve, an Italian company specializing in cooking systems, which will enable the company to grow in the world of home cooking by also marketing induction ovens and hobs.

Mondo TV drops 3.2 percent, after reporting Monday that it has reached a preliminary agreement to sign a pre-sale agreement with Italian TV station Rai Kids for the Agent 203 series, commissioned by German TV Super RTL and co-produced with Toon2Tango.

The agreement includes a seven-year license for Free TV and VOD rights for the Italian territory, and its value corresponds to about 8 percent of the parent company's revenues for 2023.

Leading the list is Bioera, up 17 percent to EUR0.12 per share, after yesterday's sharp decline.

Among SMEs, Shedir Pharma -- up 2.1 percent to EUR4.92 per share -- reported Tuesday that it posted consolidated net revenues of EUR14.2 million in the first quarter of 2023, up 44 percent from the same period a year earlier, when they amounted to EUR9.9 million.

Defence Tech Holding gives up 1.6 percent, after announcing the entry of Tinexta - in the red by 1.8 percent on the Mid-Cap - as a new strategic partner in its shareholding structure, which finalized the purchase of a 20 percent stake in Defence Tech through its own wholly owned vehicle.

The transfer of the shareholding to Tinexta was finalized upon the fulfillment of all conditions precedent stipulated in the relevant binding agreement, including Golden Power authorization and obtaining confirmation from the Panel of Borsa Italiana that there is no need to promote a takeover bid as a result of the mere subscription of the Tinexta Call," the company's note reads.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed Wednesday down 0.2 percent to 28,606.76, the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7 percent to 3,370.13, and the Hang Seng fell 1.4 percent to 20,376.76.

In New York at Tuesday's close, the Dow closed just below par at 33,976.63, the Nasdaq fell slightly to 12,153.41 and the S&P 500 gained 0.9 percent to 4,154.87.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0930 versus USD1.0962 at Tuesday's close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2412 from USD1.2425 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD83.15 per barrel USD84.75 per barrel Tuesday evening. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,979.25 an ounce from USD2,020.85 an ounce at yesterday's close.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, Overseas, at 1300 CEST, US mortgage data will be released.

At 1430 CEST, Canada will release data on new construction sites and the industrial goods price index while, two hours later, the U.S. will release crude oil stocks volumes.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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