(Alliance News) - European stock markets are set for a positive open Wednesday ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data that is expected to show that price pressures continue to ease, supporting speculation that the end of the current round of monetary policy tightening is approaching.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, after closing up 0.7 percent at 28,061.59 last night, according to IG futures marks a 140.00 point rise.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 advances 23.30 points, Paris' CAC 40 rises 28.70 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 advances 68.10 points.

Last night, the Mid-Cap closed up 0.5 percent to 42,462.27, the Small-Cap in the red 0.1 percent to 26,693.66 as Italy Growth at 9,072.24.

On the main index of Piazza Affari, among the best in fact was Tenaris, in the green by 2.8 percent, surpassed only by Moncler, which took the top spot with a 2.9 percent gain.

Saipem also did well, up 0.9% as did Eni.

Banks also up after releasing volume data for June. Banca Generali gained 0.2 percent after announcing Monday that it achieved net inflows of EUR527 million in June, bringing the total value realized since the beginning of the year to EUR3.26 billion, up 7 percent from the same period last year.

Banca Mediolanum raised 0.8 percent after announcing its June 2023 trading results on Friday reporting total volumes of EUR740 million, EUR6.46 billion since the beginning of the year. In contrast, total net inflows of EUR447 million rose to EUR4.69 billion when considering since the beginning of the year.

The exception was Azimut, which closed fractionally in the red after reporting positive net inflows of EUR802 million in June, reaching EUR3.7 billion since the beginning of the year, with a full-year 2023 target of between EUR6 billion and EUR8 billion.

On the Mid-Cap, the fashion sector's momentum continues with Salvatore Ferragamo closing flat-despite the news that Stifel and Citigroup have cut their target prices-, Tod's rising 1.6 percent, and Safilo Group gaining 2.8 percent. The latter also announced the appointment of Michele Melotti as its new CFO effective Aug. 28.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio rose 1.1 percent after it reported Thursday that Fitch, upon completion of its annual rating review process, kept all assigned ratings unchanged. Specifically, the bank's Long-term Issuer Default Rating was confirmed at 'BB+' with stable outlook.

On the Small-Cap segment, Digital Bros gave up more than 15 percent, after announcing on Tuesday that it had updated its forecast for the current year's performance with expected revenues of around EUR116 million and a 13 percent drop when compared to the previous year.

Tiscali Italia, a company of the Tessellis group - in the green by 1.5 percent - let it know Tuesday that it has continued on the path of expanding its offer of editorial content and services, with the acquisition of the channels of BIKE, a multiplatform focused on the varied world of two wheels, from BFC Media pa, a digital and media company listed on Piazza Affari.

Bastogi gave up 0.4 percent after announcing Monday that the board of directors co-opted Rebeca Gómez Tafalla as a nonexecutive and independent director and appointed her as a member of the nominations and compensation committee.

Among SMEs, the board of directors of Gibus - in the red by 3.6 percent - on Tuesday reviewed and approved consolidated operating revenues as of June 30, including the Leiner Group acquired on Sept. 30, 2022 and consolidated as of Oct. 1, 2022. Revenues amounted to EUR50.7 million, up 11 percent from EUR45.5 million as of June 30, 2022. The performance is mainly attributable to the contribution of the Leiner Group. Italy posted revenues of EUR28.7 million, down 19 percent from EUR35.3 million as of June 30, 2022.

Directa SIM rose 2.4 percent after announcing Tuesday that it has expanded the range of ETFs that make up PACs, automatic investment plans.

Growens gave up 5.1 percent Tuesday when it reported that second-quarter CPaaS business line sales and SaaS business line Annual Recurring Revenues in June posted an ARR of EUR30.4 million, including Contactlab's recurring component, up 10 percent from the same-period 2022 figure.

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei closed down 0.8 percent, the Shanghai Composite trades in the red by 0.4 percent, and the Hang Seng trades green by 0.8 percent.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed in the green by 0.9 percent, the Nasdaq closed ahead by 0.6 percent, while the S&P 500 finished up 0.7 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1030 versus USD1.0991 in Tuesday's European equities close, while the pound was worth USD1.2959 from USD1.2896 Tuesday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD79.17 per barrel versus USD79.34 per barrel at Tuesday's close. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,938.79 an ounce from USD1,937.55 an ounce on Monday evening.

On Wednesday's economic calendar, at 1110 CEST in Italy there will be the 12-month BOT auction.

As usual, at 1300 CEST it is the turn of mortgages from the United States.

In the afternoon, also from overseas, comes U.S. inflation data for June at 1430 CEST.

Among the companies listed in Piazza Affari, Unieuro's results are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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