Cautious markets and modest gains, Mib at 40,000

(Alliance News) - Major European stock markets opened higher on Tuesday, with attention focused on tariffs and tensions between Russia and the US. The EU considers Donald Trump's tariff policy, which imposed a 30% levy pending countermeasures from Brussels, to be excessive.

The other open issue concerns Moscow, with the EU ready to apply yet another package of sanctions and the US, which in the meantime has supplied new weapons to Ukraine via NATO, annoyed by Vladimir Putin's attitude, which it considers inconsistent.

In the next 50 days, there must be peace or, Washington promises, there will be 100% tariffs which, rather than hitting Russia, will serve to isolate it because they will hit its allies.

In this context, the FTSE Mib opened slightly higher at 40,204.18 points.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2%, the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gained 0.2%, and the FTSE 100 in London was just above par at 9,003.41 points.

As for the smaller indices on the Italian stock exchange, the Mid-Cap opened up 0.3% at 55,309.17 points, the Small-Cap rose 0.1% to 32,108.54 points, and the Italia Growth advanced 0.1% to 8,275.58 points.

Prysmian - up 2.0% - leads the Blue Chips after UBS raised its target price to EUR72 from EUR70.

Stellantis - up 1.5% - is buoyed by 156 contracts signed and over 109,000 units traded.

The banking risk is still at the center of the debate. The Italian government has said it is calm and ready to cooperate with the EU on the Golden Power launched on UniCredit's offer - up 0.3% - for Banco BPM, which opened down 0.2%.

Mediobanca, up 0.6%, also openly criticizes the government for its role in the recent public exchange offer launched by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which started yesterday with a limited discount of 2.7%, as reported by Il Sole 24 Ore in Tuesday's edition.

A2A, according to a study by the University of Milan, leads the way in corporate welfare with EUR72 million in payments. The stock is down 0.6% to EUR2.193.

Recordati closed the day down 1.3% after Barclays cut its target price to EUR50 from EUR52 with an 'underweight' recommendation.

Alerion rose 2.7% to top the Mid-Cap index, with a strong performance of 39% in the last thirty days.

It was a symbolic day for Explora Journeys, the MSC Group's luxury cruise brand, which celebrated three milestones simultaneously: the technical launch of Explora III, the coin laying ceremony for Explora IV, and the start of construction of Explora V.

By 2028, the fleet will consist of six vessels, all built by Fincantieri in Genoa thanks to a total investment of EUR3.50 billion by the Aponte family.

Fincantieri shares rose 0.1% to EUR16.84.

WeBuild continues its upward trend with a 2.6% increase: the company has strengthened its presence in Saudi Arabia with new USD 600 million worth of work for the Diriyah Square project.

RCS Mediagroup slipped 1.2% to EUR0.992 per share.

EPH rebounded to the top of the small caps, opening up 12%, while Mondo TV gained 10%.

Unidata rose 4.4% to EUR3.05 per share.

Dexelance acquired 16,400 of its own ordinary shares for over EUR113,000 and opened down 0.6%.

doValue had the worst opening, down 4.6% at EUR2.182 per share.

Among SMEs, Cloudia Research leads the way with purchases of 5.3%. The stock is also performing well on a monthly basis, gaining 13%.

Circle secured a EUR 200,000 contract for the digitization of logistics and the port system: the stock opened up 0.6%.

Fope - flat at EUR 38.40 - announced on Tuesday that it closed the first half of the year with consolidated net revenues of EUR 43.0 million, up 45% compared to EUR 29.6 million in the same period of 2024.

Casta Diva Group, up 1.9%, reported consolidated production value of EUR 58.2 million in the first half, up 1.7% compared to the same period in 2024.

Confinvest has signed a preliminary sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of the business unit of Dierre, which is engaged in the trading and sale of precious metals and the marketing of gold coins for investment purposes. Confinvest shares are not currently traded.

In New York on Monday evening, the Dow closed up 0.2%, the Nasdaq ended up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.1%.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.5%, the Shanghai Composite ended the session down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng was up 1.3%.

On the currency front, the euro traded at USD 1.1691 from USD 1.1680 at Monday's close, while the pound traded at USD 1.3446 from USD 1.3440 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD 68.64 from USD 69.55 per barrel at the previous close, while gold is worth USD 3,362.025 from USD 3,347.01 per ounce on Monday evening.

As for Tuesday's economic calendar, the ZEW index from Germany and the Eurozone is due at 1100 CEST, along with industrial production figures.

At 2:30 p.m. CEST, CPI inflation figures are due from the US. In the afternoon, there will also be several speeches by members of the Federal Reserve.

At 10:30 p.m. CEST, US oil inventory data will be released.

Among companies, Impianti, SG Co, and Triboo are set to report their results.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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