Piazza Affari is up slightly at the end of the morning benefiting from support from oil and banks in the last session of a week with no clear direction and characterized mainly by quarterlies.

"The feeling is that after the selling in the first part of the week, traders have gone into a wait-and-see phase ahead of next week, which will be particularly full of quarterlies," Mps strategists comment.

In particular, attentions will be turned to U.S. tech biggies such as Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet.

Support for markets on the macro front came this morning from the better-than-expected German Ifo business confidence index.

In the afternoon some cues could come from the University of Michigan's U.S. consumer confidence and U.S. durable goods data

Around 12:45 p.m., the Ftse Mib is up 0.18 percent, but is on track to close the week with a negative balance of about 1.2 percent. Volumes in today's session are around 850 million.

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With oil stocks also in the spotlight today, ENI gains 0.8 percent with analysts appreciating in particular the decision to raise the buyback plan to 2 billion euros with this morning's slightly better-than-expected quarterly earnings announcement.

Better Saipem, which travels at the top of the Ftse Mib with +3.4 percent continuing yesterday's rally triggered by strong growth results and improved guidance that led analysts to update their estimates. Also in the sector Tenaris gains 1%.

Against a positive backdrop across Europe on banking after better-than-expected results and improved earnings guidance from Britain's NatWest, Mps rises 1%, Unicredit 0.7% followed closely by Banco Bpm and Pop Sondrio.

Attempts to recover Stellantis, which pulls back to parity on a day that records disappointing new quarterlies in European automotive, including Mercedes-Benz and Valeo

Down Campari -1% after France's Remy Cointreau this morning announced that it had reduced its guidance on 2024-2025 due to deteriorating market conditions in China and a lack of visibility on the timing of recovery in the United States.

Among smaller stocks, Seri Industrial's run of more than 9 percent stands out due to its agreement with Eni to develop the lithium-iron-phosphate electrochemical battery industrial chain.

(Andrea Mandalà, editing Claudia Cristoferi)