(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets opened in positive territory on a quiet day in macroeconomic terms, as expected by IG Futures, except for the Italian blue chip list.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens in the red by 0.8 percent to 33,667.11, the Mid-Cap is in the green by 0.2 percent to 46,125.47, the Small-Cap is up by 0.6 percent to 27,990.39, while Italy Growth is in the green by 0.2 percent to 8,069.23.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.6 percent, London's FTSE 100 is up 1.2 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is in the green by 0.7 percent.

In macroeconomic news, large home sales helped drive UK house prices to their highest level in 12 months, according to data released Monday.

Rightmove's House Price Index revealed that the average asking price for properties placed on the market in April increased by 1.1 percent, or GBP4,207, from the previous month to GBP372,324.

This left prices only GBP570 away from the May 2023 record, while the annual price growth rate is now 1.7 percent, the highest level in 12 months.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia does best of all at the open, rising 2.7 percent. Banco BPM also does well, up 2.1%, while Nexi, up 1.5%, closes the podium.

Iveco opens at the bottom, down 3.2%. The company's board announced that Olof Persson will replace Gerrit Marx in the role of group CEO effective July 1, when Gerrit Marx will leave Iveco Group to take over as CEO at CNH Industrial.

Leonardo also goes down, in the red by 0.3 percent.

Stellantis rises 0.5 percent. The company reported that sales fell in Europe in March, in line with the negative trend in the performance of the European market, where registrations fell 5.2% year-on-year. As data from ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, showed Thursday, the merged giant of PSA Groupe and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles posted an 8.7 percent drop compared to March 2023, with market share down to 16.5 percent in March from 17.6 percent in March 2023.

On the Mid-Cap, OVS is up 1.3 percent. The company announced Thursday that it ended the year ended Jan. 31, 2024 with a reported net profit of EUR52.4 million, up from EUR39.6 million in the same period last year. The board of directors proposed a dividend of EUR0.07 from EUR0.06 as of Jan. 31, 2023. Net sales stood at EUR1.54 billion from EUR1.51 billion as of January 31, 2023.

Juventus Football Club - in the green by 1.5 percent - announced on Wednesday evening that, with reference to the arbitration judgment instituted by former player Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro against the company, the Arbitration Board transmitted to the parties the award rendered in the dispute, stipulating that the company is obliged to pay a sum of approximately EUR9.8 million. The figure corresponds to half of the former member's demand of about EUR19.6 million.

On the Small-Cap, Bialetti Industrie gave up 2.3 percent at the start, after rising more than 14 percent after reporting that it ended 2023 with revenues up 6.1 percent to EUR141.2 million from EUR133.1 million a year earlier. Ebitda increased to EUR19.2 million from EUR16.1 million a year earlier while operating income rose to EUR14.9 million from EUR11.1 million in 2022.

Tessellis -- in the green by 8.2 percent -- reported Friday that it had received a notice from Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in connection with the acquisition of the indirect controlling interest.

Specifically, Jefferies Financial Group notified the company of the acquisition of the majority of voting rights in Opnet - which holds 59.26 percent of Tessellis' share capital - through its subsidiary BEI Italia Wireless, following the conversion of convertible preferred shares into ordinary shares, held by BEI Italia Wireless in Opnet.

IGD - in the green by 2.5 percent - announced Thursday that its board of directors, appointed earlier in the day by the shareholders' meeting for the three-year period 2024 - 2026, elected Antonio Rizzi as chairman of the board, Edy Gambetti as vice chairman and Roberto Zoia as managing director and general manager.

Among SMEs, Eles up 1.5 percent after it reported on Thursday that ATS Engineering, SEMI Test Laboratory in Israel, an investee company of the group since 2019, announced that it has signed with iNPACK - PCB Technologies Company -, a joint venture to establish the first Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly And Test in the Middle East.

Gismondi 1754 rises 3.7 percent after it reported ending the first quarter of the year with sales revenues of EUR4.4 million, up 5.0 percent from EUR4.2 million in Q1 2023.

Monnalisa--not yet affected by the exchanges--reported Friday that its board of directors approved the completion of a related-party transaction with Jafin involving the reduction of rents related to two properties located in Milan and the termination by mutual consent of the lease agreement related to the property located in Arezzo.

The parties agreed to reduce the rent for property 1 and 2 in Milan from EUR140,000 per year each to EUR72,000 per year effective January 1, 2024.

Convergences, which does not yet trade, announced Friday that the board of directors reviewed preliminary operating revenues as of March 31, 2024. Thus, in the first quarter of the year, the company posted revenues of EUR6.0 million, up 19 percent from EUR5.0 million in the same period of 2023.

The board also approved the establishment of a limited liability company under Albanian law.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green 1.0 percent to 37,438.61, the Hang Seng was in the green 1.9 percent to 16,532.22, and the Shanghai Composite closed in the red 0.7 percent to 3,044.60.

In New York on Friday, the Dow Jones closed in the green by 0.6 percent to 37,986.40, the S&P finished in the red by 0.9 percent to 4,967.23, and the Nasdaq closed down 2.1 percent to 15,282.01.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0657 from USD1.0663 in Friday's European equities close while the pound was worth USD1.2368 from USD1.2409 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD85.89 a barrel from USD87.17 a barrel Friday night and gold trades at USD2,370.90 an ounce from USD2,390.98 an ounce Friday night.

Monday's macro calendar includes an auction of 3-month and 6-month Treasury bonds.

Among companies, coming up are the results of Generalfinance, Netweek, Saipem, Sogefi and Vantea SMART.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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