(Alliance News) - Tuesday, major European stock markets are mixed in mid-day after data from Italy and the Eurozone.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green 0.4 percent to 26,714.96, the Mid-Cap is up 0.1 percent to 42,225.91, the Small-Cap is in the green 0.3 percent to 27,634.15 and Italy Growth is in the green 0.1 percent to 9,128.31.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red by 0.3 percent, as is London's FTSE 100, while Frankfurt's DAX is up 0.5 percent.

In macroeconomic news, Italy's industrial sales rose at a slower pace than the month before on an annual basis and fell on a monthly basis in March.

Industry sales in Italy rose 4.3 percent year-on-year in March after rising 7.2 percent in February, with the market expecting a 13 percent increase. On a monthly basis, March's 0.3 percent decline followed February's 1.3 percent drop and contradicted expectations for 0.1 percent growth.

Italy's producer prices fell on both a monthly and annual basis in April.

Italy's producer prices fell 4.8 percent on a monthly basis in April after falling 1.5 percent, contradicting economists' estimates of a 0.5 percent increase.

On a year-over-year basis, however, April's 1.5 percent decline followed a 3.7 percent increase--revised from the initial 3.8 percent--in March and was lower than estimates of a 4.0 percent decrease.

In Europe, European consumer confidence improved in May to minus 17.4 from minus 17.5 in April.

As for the economic sentiment indicator in the Eurozone, it fell 2.5 points to 96.5 in May from the previous month's revised 99.0 and below market expectations of 98.9. Morale hit the lowest level since November 2022 due to the stagnant economy, high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates.

On the main index of Piazza Affari, Prysmian takes the top spot and rises 2.5 percent. Goldman raises the target price to EUR54.00 from EUR51.00 with a 'buy' recommendation. In addition, the company announced Friday that Massimo Battaini - the company's current director and chief operating officer - is the nominee to become the group's CEO.

Battaini will be introduced at the shareholders' meeting that will be called to approve the 2023 budget, then next year. The current CEO, Valerio Battista, has expressed his unwillingness to continue in the role for the 2024-2027 period.

Banco BPM -- up 0.1 percent -- announced Monday that it has exercised its option to buy 65 percent of Vera Vita and Vera Assicurazioni under agreements signed two years ago with Cattolica Assicurazioni.

BPM will pay EUR332.5 million for 65% of the own funds of the two Vera companies, net of T2 instruments, and a fixed component of EUR60 million.

Inwit -- in the green by 0.3 percent -- announced Monday that its shareholder-approved buyback program will start on May 30, from a maximum of 1.2 million own shares, equal to 0.1 percent of its share capital.

The plan has a duration of 18 months from the date of the shareholders' meeting that approved it, and the first tranche will cover up to a maximum of 67,000 ordinary shares of INWIT, and, taking as a reference the listing price of ordinary shares in the last session of the Italian Stock Exchange, the potential maximum countervalue of the buyback of the shares covered by the first tranche is estimated at around EUR800,000.

Eni - down 0.9 percent - announced Monday that it has signed an agreement with RINA, a multinational inspection, certification and engineering consultancy firm, with the aim of developing joint initiatives "to contribute to the process of energy transition and decarbonization of their respective activities with particular attention to the shipping sector, in which RINA and Eni will be able to enhance each other's expertise," according to the press note.

Teneris also goes down, down 1.5 percent. In contrast, ERG rises 1.3 percent while Saipem picks up 0.3 percent.

On the cadet segment, Maire Tecnimont is in the red by 0.8 percent. The company announced Thursday that it has signed a new EUR40 million loan agreement with BPER Corporate & Investment Banking, assisted for 80% of the amount by a guarantee granted by SACE, in order to further strengthen the group's financial structure.

Juventus will not participate in the next Champions League with EUR80 million in lost revenue, but the stock after Monday's drop takes the top spot and rises 4.1 percent.

Autogrill also does well, rising 2.1%. The company approved the signing, as borrower, of a revolving, multi-currency, intercompany loan agreement, cd downstream, of up to EUR700 million with Dufry Financial Services, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Autogrill's controlling shareholder Dufry.

On Small-Cap, Tesmec - in the green by 2.1 percent - reported on Friday that Cerved Rating Agency, an Italian agency specializing in assessing the creditworthiness of non-financial companies, confirmed the company? "s "B1.2" solicited rating.

Trevi Finanziaria Industriale--green by 4.4 percent--reported Thursday that its Trevi and Soilmec divisions won contracts and orders worth a total of EUR216.2 million in the first four months of 2023. Thanks to these acquisitions, the group's order book as of April 2023 stands at EUR591 million.

Among SMEs, High Quality Food is flat after rising 9.4 percent at the open. Last week the board approved two capital increases. The first is EUR533,600 and reserved for Francesco Paltoni, to be subscribed by contribution in kind of a 46 percent stake in the capital of HQF Agricola, with the issuance of 456,068 new shares at a unit price of EUR1.17. The second is for a maximum of EUR3.0 million and reserved for institutional investors and strategic partners, to be subscribed in cash with issuance of a maximum of 2.7 million new shares, at a unit price of EUR1.11.

Casta Diva Group is in the green by 5.9 percent, after announcing Monday that it has approved its draft financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2022, in which revenues stood at EUR83.6 million, up 210 percent from EUR26.9 million in the same period last year. Value of production stood at EUR83.9 million, up 182% from EUR29.7 million. Profit is EUR1.8 million from EUR429,211 in 2021.

Imvest--green by 3.0 percent--reported that it approved the draft financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, having reported sales revenue of EUR4.0 million from EUR2.8 million in the same period in 2021. Value of production is EUR4.6 million from EUR2.6 million in the same period of the previous year. The loss amounted to EUR1.2 million from one of EUR5.3 million in 2021.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green 0.3 percent to 31,328.16 and the Hang Seng closed in the green 0.1 percent to 18,595.78, while the Shanghai Composite finished up 0.1 percent to 3,224.21.

In New York on Tuesday, the Dow Jones closed in the green 1.0 percent to 33,093.34, the S&P gained 1.3 percent to 4,205.45, while the Nasdaq was up 2.2 percent to 12,975.69.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0707 against USD1.0712 in Monday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2345 from USD1.2356 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD75.53 per barrel versus USD76.48 per barrel on Monday night. Gold, meanwhile, trades at USD1,966.45 an ounce from USD1,946.75 an ounce on Monday evening.

On Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar, in the afternoon, the US consumer confidence report will be released at 1600 CEST while a 3-month and 6-month Treasury bond auction will be held at 1730 CEST.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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