Piazza Affari attempts to recover amid a mixed European landscape, but remains with the brakes on the thud of Stellantis after the resignation of its CEO.

European equities usher in the last month of the year struggling to take an unambiguous direction, on the one hand buoyed by hopes of firmer ECB intervention on rates, partly in light of the latest weak PMI data on the manufacturing sector, and on the other worried by political tensions in France.

Signs of caution come from Wall Street where futures anticipate a weak start in the first session of December after last month's robust gains.

In Milan, around 12:50 p.m., the Ftse Mib gave up 0.16 percent. The main index in Piazza Affari ended November with a slightly negative balance of 0.75 percent compared with a 2.8 percent rise in Frankfurt's Dax and a 1.6 percent drop in Paris' Cac 40.

Volumes on the Milanese stock around the billion mark.

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Stellantis slips 8.6% weighing down the entire European automotive, down more than 1%. Tavares' exit, not entirely unexpected but surprising in speed, fuels uncertainties about the group at a particularly complicated stage.

Bankers recover with the sector index moving into the positive after morning losses. Bper and Banco Bpm remain below par while Mps strengthens, rising 0.6 percent. Slightly up are the biggies Intesa and UniCredit.

Nexi is up 1 percent with Intermonte talking about competitive pressure that may become "less stringent" from Worldline after recent disruptions caused in recent days by the French payments group. Worldline's 'down' "should not have a material impact on Nexi's fourth quarter results even though it occurred in an already complex market environment for growth," the broker adds. Equita has increased Nexi's weight by 50bp in its core portfolio due to sustainable free cash flow and attractive valuations.

Positive cues on luxury, with Moncler up 0.7 percent and Ferragamo up 1.4 percent thanks in part to encouraging Chinese macro data this morning.

Industrials also do well with Leonardo up 2 percent and Interpump up 1 percent.

(Andrea Mandalà, editing Stefano Bernabei)