(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closes around parity on Wednesday's session, the day before the European Central Bank weighs in on its latest monetary policy decision.

The European Central Bank is not expected to follow up June's rate cut with another Thursday, although the words of its president, Christine Lagarde, will be closely scrutinized as attention focuses on the September meeting.

The Frankfurt-based institution will announce its latest interest rate decision Thursday at 2:15 p.m. CEST. Half an hour later, a press conference with Lagarde will follow.

In June, the ECB cut rates by 25 basis points. The main refinancing operations rate, the marginal lending rate and the deposit rate at the central bank are now at 4.25 percent, 4.50 percent and 3.75 percent, respectively.

The FTSE Mib closed Wednesday flat at 34,379.64, the Mid-Cap lost 0.5 percent to 48,486.03, the Small-Cap rose 0.9 percent to 29,390.11, and Italy Growth gave up 0.2 percent to 8,120.53.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 finished around parity and Frankfurt's DAX 40 lost 0.4 percent.

On the Mib, strength on A2A, which closed up 3.2% at EUR1.9180 per share, rearing its head after three bearish sessions.

Good buying also on Saipem, up 0.7% to EUR2.39 per share after a 1.5% decline on the eve of the day.

Rise also for parent company Eni, which scores a plus 0.9% to EUR14.1340 per share. Of note, the company and Kazakhstan's state-owned KazMunayGas - KMG announced Tuesday the start of construction of a 250 MW renewable sources and gas hybrid power plant at Zhanaozen in Kazakhstan's Mangystau region.

Goldman Sachas resumes coverage of Prysmian, setting the target price at EUR70.00. The stock -- which closed 1.7 percent in the red -- is priced at EUR61.70 per share.

Iveco, on the other hand, gave up 2.0 percent to EUR11.27 per share while Amplifon lost 1.3 percent to EUR30.02, in its third consecutive session with a bearish candle.

On the Mid-Cap, strength on Fincantieri, which rose 6.5% and closed its second bullish session in a row.

Ariston Holding gained 4.7 percent to EUR4.17.60. It should be noted that the stock since the start of 2024 marks a loss of more than 34 percent.

Pier Silvio Berlusconi, CEO of MFE-MediaForEurope, announced Tuesday evening at a meeting with journalists that the group's advertising revenues in Italy and Spain will grow by 6.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023. Consolidated Ebit, meanwhile, is expected to rise 11 percent.

Class A shares rose 1.9 percent while Class B shares gained 0.7 percent.

Italian Sea Group, on the other hand, lost 0.7 percent, repeating the eve's decline of 0.5 percent.

On the Small-Cap, Bastogi lost 0.7 percent, following Tuesday's decline of 0.2 percent.

doValue - up 3.0% - announced Tuesday that it will increase assets under management through the contribution of UTP loan portfolios and a stage 2 component for a gross book value of EUR300 million.

Piquadro - on a par - announced Wednesday that consolidated sales for the first three months of fiscal year 2024/2025 ended June 30 amounted to EUR36.1 million, up 4.9% from EUR34.4 million in the same period a year earlier.

Giglio Group -- up more than 24 percent -- on Wednesday announced the launch of OMNIA. The new advanced technology platform, based on artificial intelligence, represents the innovative merger and evolution of Giglio Group's two proprietary platforms Flex and Nimbus, and offers an integrated end-to-end approach to managing both the physical and online purchasing process, from the initial order stage to final delivery.

Among SMBs, buying on eVISO, which takes the price to EUR5.04, up 8.6 percent, following up on its 6.4 percent gain on the eve. Previously, the stock had come from six closing sessions with a bearish candle.

Health Italia gained 3.3%, following up on the eve's 8.0% rise.

DHH, on the other hand, lost 2.7 percent. The company, which is continuing steadily with its buyback plan, most recently reported that last week's transactions involved about 3,500 of its own ordinary shares for about EUR105,000.

SolidWorld Group--declining 0.4 percent--reported Tuesday evening that the capital increase was successfully concluded with the subscription of all 811,250 newly issued ordinary shares, worth nearly EUR2.3 million.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.3 percent to 41,067.96, the Nasdaq gives up 2.4 percent to 18,064.95 and the S&P 500 drops 1.2 percent to 5,599.24.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0930 from Tuesday's USD1.0884 in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.3007 against USD1.2958 last night.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD84.83 per barrel from USD84.03 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,470.984 an ounce from USD2,464.92 an ounce Tuesday evening.

Thursday's calendar sees as its main event the ECB communication at 1415 CEST, followed half an hour later by Christine Lagarde's lecture.

But macroeconomic appointments begin with the Japanese trade bialncia at 0150 CEST and continue with car registrations in Europe, at 0800 CEST. At the same time, UK unemployment data will arrive.

From the Eurozone, focus on construction sector output, out at 1100 CEST, while in the US, at 1430 CEST, last week's jobless claims data will be known.

Gas stocks numbers in the States will be released at 1630 CEST while the day will close with the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, released at 2230 CEST.

Among the companies in the stock market, results from Arterra Bioscience, Dotstay, Eligo and Sesa are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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