(Alliance News) - Tuesday was a decidedly negative day for the major European indices, and the Piazza Affari index was not exempt from losses.

Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG, said, "It was another difficult day for global markets and limited upside in the U.S. is fading as traders continue to reduce risk due to continued uncertainty in the Middle East. The threat of an Israeli response to Saturday's Iranian attacks and yesterday's strong U.S. retail sales data remain the drivers of the decline."

"In recent months, investors had become accustomed to a steady upward drift and had dismissed the indecision of March and April as a digestion of earnings before another rise. But, in the end, declines like the ones we are seeing now are a common occurrence. We have moved quickly from greed to fear, but such declines offer investors a chance to seize the opportunity to rally at better levels than would otherwise happen."

The FTSE Mib closed Tuesday down 1.7 percent to 33,393.85, the Mid-Cap gave up 1.4 percent to 46,296.88, the Small-Cap fell 1.1 percent to 27,747.56, and Italy Growth lost 1.0 percent to 8,006.83.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed down 1.8 percent, Paris' CAC 40 finished 1.6 percent in the red and Frankfurt's DAX 40 gave up 1.5 percent.

On the Mib, Prysmian lost 2.5 percent, paying duty on profit-taking after rises related to having entered into a merger agreement under which it will acquire Encore Wire for USD290.00 per share. The price per share of USD290.00 represents a premium of about 20 percent to the 30-day weighted average as of Friday's date and about 29 percent to the 90-day weighted average as of the same reporting date. The transaction values Encore Wire at about EUR3.9 billion.

FinecoBank gave up 2.1 percent, following a 0.6 percent rise in the previous session, while at the bottom was Stellantis, in the red by 3.0 percent.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena -- in the red by 0.8 percent -- reported Monday that ratings agency DBRS Ratings raised the bank's ratings by two notches. DBRS raised the standalone intrinsic assessment rating, the long-term issuer rating and the long-term senior debt rating to 'BB (high)' from 'BB (low)' and the long-term deposit rating to 'BBB (low)' from 'BB.' The subordinated debt rating was upgraded by three notches to 'BB (low)' from 'B (low)'.

Terna -- down 1.6 percent -- announced Monday that it had signed an amendment and restatement agreement to increase the amount of the ESG-linked revolving credit facility to EUR2.26 billion. The credit facility had been signed in May 2023 for EUR1.81 billion, entered into with a pool of financial institutions as joint mandated lead arrangers: Intesa Sanpaolo, BNP Paribas, Banco Santander, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, UniCredit and SMBC.

On the Mid-Cap, Intercos closed 0.4 percent in the red after reporting Monday that the board of directors confirmed Renato Semerati as chief executive officer.

Ludovica Arbella, on the other hand, was confirmed as executive director, to whom the board gave respective powers.

OVS-which is in the red by 2.1 percent-announced Monday that between April 8 and April 12 it purchased 1.4 million of its own ordinary shares for the average unit price of EUR2.2969 and a total value of EUR3.3 million. Thus, the company holds 35.5 million shares or 12 percent of the share capital.

Industrie De Nora gained 1.0 percent after announcing Tuesday the sale of the Hyde Marine UV business to Optimarin, a Norwegian company operating in the ballast water treatment sector.

As stated in the memo released by the company, the agreement covers the sale of technologies, trademarks and selected assets pertaining to the design, sale and after-sale of systems using UV technology for ballast water treatment and disinfection, promoted under the Hyde Marine and Hyde Guardian brands.

On the Small-Cap, Bastogi rose 4.2 percent after it reported Friday that it ended 2023 with a net profit of EUR2.9 million, which compares with the previous year's figure of EUR32.4 million. Italy's oldest company still in business reported EBITDA of EUR16.5 million from EUR54.5 million a year earlier.

BF -- up 1.1 percent -- reported Monday that its 2023 production value rose to EUR1.39 billion from EUR1.12 billion a year earlier. The figure is almost in line with the estimated 2023 production value of EUR1.40 billion. The recorded growth, which can be attributed not only to the different period of inclusion in the scope of consolidation of consolidated companies but also to integration effects with investee companies, discounts a general deflationary trend.

Somec lost 3.7 percent after it reported Tuesday that its Mestieri division, design and creation of custom interiors, won eight prestigious contracts worth a total of about EUR33 million.

The contracts concern projects for renowned high-end brands and cover a variety of sectors: from retail to naval, from museum fittings to private residential construction. An area, the latter, where Mestieri is involved in a high-value and prestigious order in the East Coast of the US.

Piquadro finished up 1.1 percent after ending fiscal year 2023-2024 with revenues of EUR180.3 million, up 2.7 percent from EUR175.6 million in the previous year.

The Piquadro brand posted a 6.9 percent increase to EUR81.5 million, with sales of the wholesale and DOS danals both on the rise; The Bridge posted a 10 percent increase in revenues to EUR34.1 million; and Maison Lancel saw revenues drop 5.4 percent to EUR64.7 million.

Geographically, the Italian market weighed 47.8 percent in Piquadro's sales, up from 45.9 percent a year earlier, while the European market, which weighed 48.3 percent, saw a slight drop in weight in the total from 50.7 percent a year earlier.

Among SMEs, boost on Alfonsino, which closed up 8.4 percent, rebounding after two sessions closed with heavy selling.

Redelfi - in the red by 6.9 percent - and Anthilia Capital Partners SGR on Tuesday said they have signed a financing agreement totaling EUR15 million through the Anthilia Must, Anthilia BIT III and Anthilia BIT IV Co-Investment Funds.

In New York, the Dow is up 0.1 percent to 37,782.67, the Nasdaq gives up 0.2 percent to 15,860.63 and the S&P 500 is down 0.3 percent to 5,048.45.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0634 from USD1.0627 on Monday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2448 from USD1.2450 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD89.83 a barrel from USD89.29 on Monday evening and gold trades at USD2,368.01 from USD2,338.38 last night.

Wednesday's macroeconomic calendar opens with Japan's trade balance, due out at 0150 CET, while the UK will keep an eye on inflation and producer prices, due out at 0800 CET.

For the Eurozone, focus on inflation, due out at 1100 CET, while both the EU leaders' summit and the Eurogroup meeting will be held later in the day.

In the afternoon, from the U.S., will come data on the mortgage market, at 1300 CET, before numbers on crude oil stocks, due at 1630 CET. At 2000 CET, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book will be released.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the results of Brunello Cucinelli, MFE-MediaForEurope and OVS are expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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