Mixed European markets; Azimut tops, Saipem trails

(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, at midday, the main European indices are moving in opposite directions after the publication of various macroeconomic indicators.

The Milan Stock Exchange remains in the 42,500-point range, Paris is the worst performer among the Old Continent's stock exchanges, while Frankfurt is just above par.

Caution continues to prevail among investors after US President Trump's announcement of new 10% tariffs on timber and related products. Added to this is strong concern about a possible US government shutdown, which could trigger tomorrow if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach an agreement by the end of today.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is down 0.2% to 42,483.45, the Mid-Cap is down 0.1% to 56,504.76, the Small-Cap is up 0.2% to 36,261.08, while the Italy Growth is down 0.3% to 8,567.78.

The FTSE 100 in London is down 0.1%, the CAC 40 in Paris is down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt is up fractionally.

On the macroeconomic front, in August, industrial producer prices in Italy fell again on a monthly basis after two consecutive months of increases, showing a further slowdown in trend growth.

According to preliminary estimates released by Istat, Italian inflation remained at 1.6% in September, unchanged from August. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell by 0.2% after rising by 0.1% in the previous month.

In Germany, the unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in September from 6.4% in August.

Finally, in France, consumer inflation rose to 1.2% in September from 0.9% in August, according to INSEE estimates released on Tuesday.

Returning to Milan, on the Piazza Affari's highest capitalization index, Azimut remains at the top halfway through trading with a 4.4% gain and almost 1.1 million shares already traded.

The board of directors of Monte dei Paschi is finalizing the names of the candidates for the presidency and the new board of Mediobanca, with the aim of presenting the list by Friday, which will be voted on at the shareholders' meeting on October 28.

MPS is up 0.5%, while Piazzetta Cuccia is down 1.3%.

Among the many bearish stocks, Stellantis is down 1.3%. The carmaker confirmed its guidance for the current year and announced the appointment of Joao Laranjo as the new CFO to replace Doug Ostermann, who resigned for personal reasons.

Brunello Cucinelli is down 0.3%. The company announced that it had brought forward the board meeting on preliminary results after allegations - denied by the board - that it had circumvented sanctions against Russia.

Leonardo was also down, falling 1.2%, as was Amplifon, down 1.6%.

Saipem remains at the bottom of the main index, down 2.7%. Nordea Investment Management has cut its short position on the stock to 0.38% from 0.50% previously.

On the Mid-Cap index, among the few bulls, OVS took the lead, rising 2.1%.

Avio gained 1.3%, achieving its fifth consecutive session in positive territory. The company has signed a EUR 40.0 million contract with the European Space Agency for transport. The deal is for a period of 24 months.

Pirelli recorded a loss of 0.2% at the halfway point. The Italian government has notified China's CNRC, a 37% shareholder in Pirelli, that it is closing its investigation into a possible violation of the Golden Power between June 16, 2023, and October 31, 2024, believing that there were no acts that compromised the company's management autonomy.

Fincantieri and TUI Cruises - a joint venture between TUI and Royal Caribbean Cruises - signed a contract on Monday for the design and construction of two new cruise ships. Fincantieri shares fell 0.5%.

More profit-taking for Danieli & C, down 2.1% at the bottom of the secondary market, after closing Monday up 15%.

On the Small-Cap index, among the most traded stocks by value, Digital Value advanced 2.7%. Citadel Advisors revised its short position on the stock to 0.83% from 0.78%, while Voleon Capital Management raised its short position on Digital Value to 1.00% from 0.90%.

Purchases for Beewize - up 1.7% - which announced its first-half results on Monday, closing with a net group loss of EUR 2.7 million, worse than the loss of EUR 874,000 recorded in the same period of 2024.

Seri Industrial - down 3.4%, at the bottom of the list - announced that it closed the first half of the year with an adjusted consolidated loss of EUR 11.6 million, compared to EUR 5.6 million at June 30, 2024.

Fidia's stock was suspended after a theoretical rise of 21%. The company announced that it closed the first half of the year with a loss of EUR 150,000, compared to EUR 7.2 million at June 30, 2024.

Among SMEs, purchases continued on Casta Diva Group - up 3.5% - after it announced that it had closed the first half of the year with a net profit of EUR 2.1 million, up from EUR 2.0 million in the same period of 2024, representing growth of 6%.

The value of production rose to EUR 59.4 million from EUR 58.2 million, an increase of 2%.

DigiTouch - down 1.2% - announced on Tuesday that it closed the first half of the year with total revenues of EUR 19.8 million, up from EUR 19.6 million at June 30, 2024.

Impianti reversed course, falling 4.4%. The company announced that it closed the first half of the year with revenues of EUR 3.1 million, down from EUR 4.4 million as of June 30, 2024. The net loss stood at EUR 370,000, up from EUR 270,000 in the first half of last year.

SosTravel.com extends its opening losses and is down 8.0% after reporting first-half results on Monday, closing with a net loss of EUR 292,000 compared to a profit of EUR 50,000 in the same period of 2024. The board revoked the 2023-2027 business plan, believing that the growth targets are no longer achievable with the new business model adopted.

Among the stocks at the bottom of the alternative list with the highest trading value remains Nusco, which is down 7.0%. The company announced on Monday that it closed the first half of the year with a net loss of EUR 381,000, compared to a profit of EUR 1.6 million in the same period of 2024, a result that, according to the company, was also influenced by an increase in financial expenses.

In New York, overnight in Europe, the Dow closed up 0.2% at 46,316.07, while the Nasdaq closed up 0.5% at 22,591.15 and the S&P 500 closed up 0.3% at 6,661.21.

Among Asian markets, the Hang Seng closed up 0.9%, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%, while the Nikkei fell 0.3%.

On the currency front, the euro is trading at USD1.1740 from USD1.1727 at Monday evening's stock market close, while the pound is trading at USD1.3436 from USD1.3420 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude traded at USD 66.42 per barrel, down from USD 68.20 per barrel at Monday evening's stock market close, while gold was worth USD 3,848.68 per ounce, up from USD 3,823.84 per ounce on Monday.

In Tuesday's economic calendar from Italy, industrial sales data is expected at 1200 CEST.

At 1450 CEST, the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, will give a speech, followed at 1600 CEST by US consumer confidence data.

By Antonio Di Giorgio, Alliance News reporter

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