(Alliance News) - Mid-day Tuesday, major European stock exchanges continued to move into negative territory, with the release of construction PMIs identifying a month of further contraction in May in the major countries of the Old Continent, including Italy. Our country's construction PMI fell to 47.9 in May from 49.0 points in April remaining still below the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion in sector activity.

In the Eurozone, on the other hand, the index fell to 44.6 in May from 45.5 in April, signaling the sharpest monthly decline in overall construction activity in 2023.

It should also be noted that Istat has predicted that Italian GDP will grow by 1.2 percent in 2023 and 1.1 percent in 2024 albeit slower than in 2022.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the red 0.5 percent to 26,729.96, the Mid-Cap drops 0.2 percent to 42,476.43, the Small-Cap gives up 0.6 percent to 27,217.00, and Italy Growth is in the fractional red at 9,138.91.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.2 percent, Frankfurt's DAX is in the fractional red and London's FTSE 100 is down 0.3 percent.

In other macroeconomic news, Eurostat reported that the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade was unchanged in the Eurozone and increased by 0.1 percent in the EU, compared to March.

In the previous month, in fact, retail trade volume decreased by 0.4 percent in the eurozone and 0.5 percent in the EU.

On the main index in Piazza Affari, UniCredit gives up 0.2 percent. The bank reported Tuesday that it bought 11.9 million of its own ordinary shares between May 29 and June 2.

The shares were taken over at an average price per share of EUR18.4620, for a total value of EUR220.7 million.

The bank also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, SACE, Banco BPM, BPER Banca and Intesa Sanpaolo - the first two up 0.4 percent and the third down 0.4 percent - to contribute to Italy's infrastructure development with a significant economic, social and environmental impact on the territory and in favor of the business fabric and the community.

The protocol, reads a note, "defines the guidelines for the launch of a potential collaboration between the members for the issuance, after autonomous credit assessment, of project guarantees in the interest of companies or consortia/groupings that will be awarded tenders related to works for the railway infrastructures included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and for those commissioned."

At this first stage, the announced cooperation will be able to contribute in particular to the development of the national railway network, supporting the implementation of works worth more than EUR7 billion.

Stellantis - which gives up 1.4 percent - and Galloo, a leading metal recycling company, announced Monday the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to enter into exclusive negotiations to establish a joint venture for end-of-life vehicle recycling as part of the automaker's efforts to support its circular economy activities.

STMicroelectronics -- in the red by 1.5 percent -- and GlobalFoundries Inc announced Monday that they have finalized an agreement to create a new jointly operated semiconductor manufacturing plant in France. Jean-Marc Chery, chairman and CEO of STMicroelectronics, said, "This new manufacturing plant will support our revenue ambition of over USD20 billion."

Leading the way is still Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which trades in the green by 2.9 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.

Italgas -- trading at a par at EUR5.51 per share -- announced Monday that it has joined the Large Infrastructure Institute as a member of the Governing Council.

The addition of Italgas, represented by Raffaella Maruccio, the company's Procurement and Material Management Director, to the IGI's Governing Council "reflects the company's commitment to fostering collaboration between different entities in the sector.

Still hurting is Pirelli, down 1.4 percent. 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 operations 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 shareholder's meeting, in favor of the Tronchetti Provera family's holding company.

DiaSorin rises with 0.2 percent. Consob announced Monday that it has applied an administrative fine against the company for the alleged violation of the disclosure requirements of the "MAR Regulation," and another fine against CEO Carlo Rosa.

In the case of the company, Consob applied a fine of EUR100,000 while in the case of the CEO 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, ENAV gives up 1.9 percent. It announced Tuesday that it has signed, through its subsidiary IDS AirNav -- a leading international company in aviation information management systems -- a contract with Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland, the Dutch air traffic control service provider. The contract is worth EUR4.1 million and will run for five years.

Maire Tecnimont--down 0.7 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.

Among the small-capitalization companies on the Milan Stock Exchange, Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi of Bologna is on par at EUR8.40. 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 percent over the same month in 2019 and 11 percent over May 2022, while there were 696,114 passengers on international flights, up 7.4 percent over 2019 and 18 percent over 2022.

Among SMEs, Lifestyle Group gives up 21 percent after announcing Monday that the board of directors approved the consolidated financial statements as of Dec. 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 1.7 percent after announcing Monday that it has conferred the charge of specialist operator 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 by 0.9 percent at 32,506.78, the Hang Seng finished in the fractional red at 19,099.28 while 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 USD1.0690 against USD1.0719 in Monday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2404 from USD1.2419 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD75.31 per barrel versus USD77.13 per barrel on Monday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,962.95 an ounce from USD1,975.25 an ounce on Monday evening.

On Tuesday afternoon's macroeconomic calendar from the US, the EIA's energy forecast, at 1800 CEST, and weekly oil stocks, at 2230 CEST, are expected.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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