Indexes cautiously rising in Piazza Affari on the heels of yesterday's good pitch, although the session, at least in the first half, is likely to be congealed by expectations of the important U.S. inflation figure in the early afternoon, which will give indications of the health of the world's leading economy just days before the new Trump administration takes office.

Expectations are for a slight year-over-year increase to 2.9 percent from 2.7 percent. Higher-than-consensus data could further cool money markets' expectations for the Federal Reserve's path of monetary easing.

Around 9:40 a.m., the Ftse Mib rises 0.29 percent.

It swerves at the start Saipem, which came to lose as much as 5 percent, then recovers, settling at -2.7 percent. A trader cites Bloomberg's rumor that the company faces increased costs in its French wind project due to difficulties in drilling.

Banks positive with biggies UniCredit and Intesa up 0.3% and 0.10%, respectively.

On the upside front, Prysmian soars 2.1% after Citi raised its target price to 73 euros from 69 euros previously ahead of its fourth quarter results.

Iveco gains 3 percent again on the upgrade effect, in this case from Kepler Cheuvreux, which moves to 'buy' from 'hold' and target price to 11.5 euros from 11.

Sagging Tim at -0.8%, while Nexi fails to pick itself up, at the bottom of the Ftse Mib with a drop of 1.3% following yesterday's new thud, with the stock moving to all-time lows. Pulling the shares down yesterday was a report by Morgan Stanley, which cut its recommendation to 'underweight' from 'equal weight,' highlighting the Italian payments company's greater growth risks compared to its competitors.

(Giancarlo Navach, editing Stefano Bernabei)