FTSE Mib Slips as European Markets Remain Cautious

(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, markets moved cautiously and into negative territory. In the background looms the ongoing trade war over tariffs, with the EU ready to negotiate a "cross-sector" tariff of 10%. Meanwhile, for the eurozone, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos told Bloomberg TV: "The economy is not doing well. The euro area growth rate will be below 1% in 2025 and slightly above that in 2026. I believe the risks are clearly tilted to the downside."

As a result, the main European stock exchanges slipped into the red, with Paris' CAC 40 down 0.3%, Frankfurt's DAX 40 falling 0.3%, and London's FTSE 100 dropping 0.1%.

Domestically, Italy's manufacturing sector saw further deterioration in June, with the Hamburg Commercial Bank PMI index declining to 48.4 from May's 49.2, marking the sharpest drop in the past three months, according to S&P Global survey results released Tuesday.

The FTSE Mib fell 0.5% to 39,607.23 points. The Mid-Cap gained 0.3% to 54,277.16, the Small-Cap slipped 0.1% to 31,844.55, and Italy Growth rose 0.3% to 8,198.24 points.

Leading the Mib index was Brunello Cucinelli, up 1.5% to EUR104.75 per share.

Enel advanced 1.3% after slipping 0.1% on Monday.

Nexi, on the other hand, fell 0.6% to EUR5.04 per share. Notably, Barclays cut its target price on the stock to EUR4.50 from EUR4.90 per share.

Leonardo, which ended at the bottom of the index with a 2.6% drop to EUR46.53 per share, announced Tuesday it had acquired nearly 25% of the share capital of Finland's SSH Communications Security Corporation, investing EUR20 million to strengthen its international cyber portfolio.

Amplifon, which announced a EUR50 million loan from Banca Popolare di Sondrio (down 1.7%), was down 0.5%. The company said Monday it had repurchased 1.2 million of its own ordinary shares between June 23 and June 30 at an average price of EUR19.978, for a total value of about EUR23.6 million. Following these purchases, the company now holds 4.6 million treasury shares, equal to 2.0% of its share capital.

Intesa Sanpaolo, down 0.9%, reported Monday it had bought back 36.5 million of its own shares between June 23 and June 27 at an average price of EUR4.7990, for a total value of EUR175.3 million. Since the buyback program began, the company has repurchased 165 million shares, about 0.9% of its share capital.

Banca Mediolanum, down 0.7%, and Mediolanum Vita completed the sale of their entire stake in Mediobanca, totaling 29.1 million ordinary shares or about 3.5% of the capital. Mediobanca's shares fell 2.9% to EUR19.155 per share.

On the Mid-Cap index, Italmobiliare rose 4.6% to EUR27.20 per share.

Webuild followed with a 2.5% increase after signing a contract for the construction of Section T2 of Rome Metro's Line C, valued at about EUR2.00 billion.

Juventus Football Club dropped 1%. The company announced that majority shareholder Exor NV made a second payment toward a future capital increase totaling EUR15.0 million, "on the same terms, conditions, and purposes as the payment made on March 28," as specified in the statement.

Maire announced that its NextChem plant in Mexico will have a capacity of 2.1 million tonnes from 2029, with the stock rising 0.9% to EUR11.31 per share.

D'Amico ended at the bottom, with a 3.7% drop to EUR3.32.

On the Small-Cap index, Safilo Group and Victoria Beckham announced the signing of a global ten-year licensing agreement for the creation, production, and distribution of Victoria Beckham-branded eyewear collections. The company's shares rose 0.7% to EUR0.090 each.

Triboo led the pack with a 50% surge to EUR0.466 per share. On Monday, the company reported that its subsidiary Triboo Digitale completed the sale of its 80% stake in ESITE Srl to Alsendo Holdings Sarl. The sale price was EUR4.4 million, resulting in a capital gain of EUR1.5 million.

Met.Extra Group fell sharply, down 31%.

Bestbe Holding's board, down 5.7%, approved the draft separate and consolidated financial statements as of December 31, closing with a consolidated net loss of EUR7.2 million, an improvement from the EUR10.5 million loss in 2023.

Among SMEs, Laboratorio Farmaceutico Erfo gained 6.1%, with shares at EUR1.365.

Planetel, currently inactive in trading, acquired about 700 active business customers with Areatech.

At the bottom of the list was 4Aim Sicaf, down 4.9%, extending its negative performance over the past thirty days, during which the stock has fallen 34%.

Cyberoo, up 0.3%, announced Monday it had repurchased 15,200 of its own ordinary shares between June 23 and June 27 at an average price of EUR1.495, for a total value of EUR22,723.12.

In New York, the Dow gained 0.6%, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.5%, as did the S&P 500.

Among Asian markets--with Hong Kong closed for a holiday--the Nikkei closed down 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%.

In currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1821 from USD1.1737 at Monday's close, while the pound traded at USD1.3773 from USD1.3701 on Monday.

In commodities, Brent traded at USD66.81 from USD67.63 per barrel at the previous close, while gold was at USD3,339.81 an ounce from USD3,302.87 an ounce at the previous close.

Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar includes car registration data in Spain at 1200 CEST.

In the afternoon, at 1530 CEST, attention turns to a series of speeches: Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, and ECB President Christine Lagarde are all scheduled to speak.

At 1545 CEST, the US manufacturing PMI will be released. At 1600 CEST, data on construction spending and the ISM manufacturing index will be published. Simultaneously, the JOLTS job openings data will also be released.

The day will close at 2230 CEST with the weekly US oil inventory report.

Among listed companies on Piazza Affari, quarterly results are expected from SosTravel.com.

By Michele Cirulli, Alliance News Reporter

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