(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed the day higher on Monday amid a start to the week dense with macroeconomic data and half-year results of listed companies.

In detail, Eurozone economic growth slowed on an annual basis while it accelerated on a quarterly basis in the second quarter, Eurostat reported Monday.

Eurozone Gross Domestic Product, therefore, grew by 0.3 percent in the first quarter on a quarterly basis after remaining flat in the first quarter. The figure is higher than the estimated growth of 0.2 percent.

Also of note, Italy's annual inflation slowed to 6.0% in July from 6.4% in June while the market had expected a less marked slowdown to 6.1%.

Meanwhile, as Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, comments, "Crude oil prices continue to rise, after another week of rises, and are on track to post their best monthly performance of the year. Fears that Saudi Arabia will go further by extending its production cuts through September are causing demand to return as the U.S. economy appears to be doing better than expected. With Brent prices back above USD85, the April highs at USD87.75 do not seem so far away."

Thus, the FTSE Mib closes in the green by 0.5 percent to 29,644.71, the Mid-Cap ends up 0.3 percent to 42,896.26, the Small-Cap picks up 0.5 percent to 27,189.78, and Italy Growth is in the red by 0.1 percent to 9,076.13.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 finishes just above par, Paris' CAC 40 closes up 0.3 percent while Frankfurt's DAX closes 0.1 percent in the red.

On the highest capitalization list of Piazza Affari, Leonardo leads with a 3.7 percent rise. On Friday the board of directors unanimously reviewed and approved the results for the first half of the year, which closed with a net income of EUR208 million from EUR267 million in the comparable period.

This reflects compared to the ordinary net result -- of EUR197 million from EUR267 million in the comparison period -- the EUR11 million gain related to the sale of the ATM business by Selex ES, Llc.

The banking sector also did well: the pool formed by Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit - in the green by 1.3 percent, 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively - assisted by SACE's SupportItalia Guarantee, provided the Goglio Spa group, a leading packaging company, with a EUR45 million loan that will be used to optimize working capital management.

Goglio is a historic industrial group established in 1850 and the protagonist of a development that has led it to become an established reference point in the packaging sector.

Pirelli & C closes in the red by 1.4 percent after announcing Monday that the shareholders' meeting appointed for the years until 2025 the board of directors, determining the number of members at 15, of which nine are independent.

Jian Jiao was appointed chairman of the board.

Saipem gives up 1.6 percent and is the only oil stock to retreat on the Mib: Tenaris brings home 0.9 percent and Eni 1.7 percent.

On the cadet segment, Caltagirone comes close to the top with a 3.5 percent gain after announcing Friday that its board of directors reviewed and approved its results for the first six months of the year, reporting revenues of EUR976.3 million up 1.4 percent from EUR962.5 million in the same period last year.

EBITDA amounted to EUR200.4 million up 42 percent from EUR141.2 million in the first half of 2022.

Better does only De' Longhi, up 4.2 percent.

Saras, up 0.6 percent, closed the first half with a net income of EUR122.3 million compared to EUR292.5 million in the same period last year.

Piaggio also did well, closing up 2.9 percent. The Vespa company last week reported that it closed the first half with revenues of EUR1.17 billion, the highest ever for the period, up 11 percent from EUR1.05 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Fincantieri ends up 1.8 percent after it announced it has been awarded a EUR211 million contract for the mid-life modernization of the Italian and French Horizon-class frigates.

Industrie De Nora ends at the bottom,in the red by 6.8 percent after letting it know on Monday that it posted a net profit of EUR46.7 million in the first half of the year, up 18 percent from EUR39.7 million in the same period last year. Adjusted Ebitda, on the other hand, is EUR86.1 million, down 16 percent from EUR102.3 million in the first half of 2022.

Revenues are EUR420.4 million, up 2.4 percent from EUR410.5 million recorded in the first half of 2022.

On Small-Cap, the board of Monrif -- which closed up 0.7 percent -- on Monday approved the financial report for the first half of the year, which ended with consolidated revenues are EUR71.7 million compared to EUR74.8 million for the same period in 2022.

"As of June 30, consolidated revenues included a total of EUR3.7 million in revenues related to one-time contributions received from the hotel sector and revenues related to the Royal Garden Hotel, which was sold by the Group at the end of 2022," the company note specified.

D'Amico, on the other hand, advances 3.0 percent, after closing a good half-year with a net profit of USD99.8 million from USD19.2 million in the same period last year. The board of directors proposed the distribution of a dividend of USD0.0153 per share.

Biesse closed in the green by 1.4 percent, with new price at EUR12.25 per share. The company reported Friday that it closed the first half of the year with almost stable year-on-year revenues, at EUR418.2 million from EUR419.1 million in the same period last year. Profit on a half-year basis was also stable, rising to EUR19.5 million from EUR19.4 million in the first six months of the year.

Among SMEs, the board of Culti Milano -- in the red by 2.9 percent -- on Monday approved its first-half results, which closed with a net loss of EUR101,000 from last year's EUR870,000 profit in the same time frame.

Total revenues amounted to EUR11.1 million up slightly from EUR10.8 million in the same period last year.

Altea Green Power gives up 0.3 percent. The company reported on Friday that in the first half of the year it achieved a value of production between EUR8.5 million and EUR9.5 million, up from EUR7.5 million recorded in the same period in 2022.

Ebitda was between EUR5 and EUR5.5 million, up from EUR1.8 million in the same period of 2022.

Esautomotion, on the other hand, picked up 1.3 percent after good half-year numbers released Friday night. Revenues were EUR19.2 million, up 17 percent from the same period last year.

Cofle ends in the red by 2.4%. The company reported Friday that first-half revenues rose to EUR32.2 million from EUR27.5 million in the same period last year.

In New York at the height of trading, the Dow Jones is fractionally in the red as is the S&P while the Nasdaq is just above par.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.1019 versus USD1.1033 in Friday's European stock close while the pound is worth USD1.2857 from USD1.2864 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.53 per barrel versus USD84.55 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,970.39 an ounce from USD1,962.19 an ounce on Thursday evening.

On Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar, from Japan at 0130 CEST comes unemployment data and at 0230 CEST the manufacturing purchasing managers' index.

At 0535 CEST from China the July Caixin PMI manufacturing index is expected while at 0800 CEST the UK national house price index.

At 0945 CEST the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index in Italy will be released, followed by the French and German indices five minutes apart. From the Eurozone, however, it is due at 1000 CEST and from UK at 1030 CEST.

The unemployment figure, on the other hand, comes from Germany at 0955 CEST, at 1000 CEST from Italy while from the Eurozone it will come out at 1100 CEST.

In the afternoon, from the U.S. is the manufacturing purchasing managers' index at 1545 CEST, followed by the ISM index at 1600 CEST.

In Piazza Affari, several results are expected, including those of Banca Mediolanum, FinecoBank, MFE-MediaForEurope and Pininfarina.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News senior reporter

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