(Alliance News) - On Monday, major European stock markets confirm expectations and open in positive territory on a quiet day in macroeconomic terms, except for the Mib, which goes down 1.0% and drags down all of Piazza Affari.

Thus, the FTSE Mib opens 1.0% in the red at 35,042.36, the Mid-Cap is down 0.9% at 47,906.99, the Small-Cap is down 0.2% at 29,432.27 while Italy Growth is down 0.3% at 8,219.02.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the green by 0.2 percent, as are London's FTSE100 and Frankfurt's DAX 40.

On the Mib, Saipem rises 3.2 percent, confirming its strength since the bell rang. The company announced Thursday that it has been awarded a new offshore contract by Azule Energy Angola to develop the Ndungu Field project, as part of the Agogo Integrated West Hub project, located about 180 kilometers off the coast of Angola. The value of the contract is approximately USD850 million.

In addition, Brent futures rose above USD84 a barrel Monday, extending last week's gains, after Iranian state media reported that "there are no signs of life" at the crash site of the helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi, fueling political uncertainty in a major oil-producing nation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also with him in the helicopter.

Also doing well were Unipol and Tenaris, up 1.6 percent; preceded by Eni, in the green by 1.5 percent.

Banks weigh on the list, with Banco BPM and Banca Mediolanum down 0.7 percent and Banca Popolare di Sondrio, in the red by 0.5 percent.

Doing worst of all is Iveco Group, in the red by 0.7 percent.

On the Mid-Cap, El.En. gives up 0.9 percent. The company's board approved the interim report as of March 31, with a positive pretax result of EUR14.4 million, which is a 13% decrease from EUR16.6 million as of March 31, 2023.

For Moltiply Group it rose by 0.8 percent. The company announced Thursday that its Mavriq Division has signed binding agreements to acquire a leading online comparison and brokerage operator in the Netherlands. The agreed entreprise value for 100 percent of Pricewise's shares is EUR25.0 million, and the purchase will be financed through cash and/or use of already available credit lines.

Acea Ambiente, a subsidiary of Acea -- in the green by 0.4 percent -- submitted by the deadline a bid related to the call for tenders published by Roma Capitale for the awarding of the concession of the plant hub relating to the design, authorization for operation, construction and management of a waste-to-energy plant and related ancillary plant engineering.

On the Small-Cap, Netweek is flat at EUR0.05. The company announced Thursday that it had signed a contract to acquire 100 percent of Telecity 2, a company into which the television and publishing activities of the Telecity group, a leader in Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, and Valle d'Aosta, had been contributed. The price paid for 100 percent of Telecity 2 is EUR6 million and includes--among others--the television activities of the four regional broadcasters, the Assago office and about 40 employees.

Alkemy rises 0.9 percent. The company closed with a profit of EUR200,000, down 63 percent from EUR700,000 in the same period of 2023.

Banco Di Desio e della Brianza rises 1.2% after announcing Thursday that Banco Di Desio has signed an agreement to take over 14 bank branches from Banca Popolare di Puglia e Basilicata.

The branches in question are located in Lazio, Lombardy, Veneto, Marche and Piedmont.

The entire business includes a gross banking product as of Dec. 31, 2023 of about EUR870 million and about 17,000 retail and SME customers, as well as assets, liabilities and legal relationships referable to these entities.

Caleffi is not yet affected by the exchanges. The company reported that a buyback plan already approved by shareholders this week will be launched today. The plan is for the purchase of up to 200,000 of its own ordinary shares, for a maximum amount of EUR200,000.

Among SMEs, strength on iVision tech, which rises 3.9 percent. The company reported that its board of directors approved the issuance of two bonds with a total countervalue of EUR7.0 million.

Triboo gives up 1.0 percent after reporting first quarter revenues of EUR17.8 million from EUR22.6 million as of March 31, 2023.

Ebitda for the period was EUR2.3 million from EUR2.9 million in Q1 2023.

SG Co -- down 3.6 percent -- reported Friday that the value of the group's contracted order backlog as of April 30 was about EUR19.3 million, up 87 percent from the figure for the same period a year earlier, when it was EUR10.3 million. The figure is equivalent to 65 percent of the group's consolidated revenue of EUR29.5 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green by 0.7 percent at 39,069.68, the Hang Seng was in the green by 0.2 percent at 19,592.72, and the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.5 percent at 3,171.15.

In New York on Friday, the Dow closed up 0.3 percent at 40,003.59, the Nasdaq finished down 0.1 percent at 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 5,303.27.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0873 from USD1.0874 on Friday in European equities closing while the pound was worth USD1.2700 from USD1.2701 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD84.35 per barrel from USD83.26 per barrel Friday night. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,442.80 an ounce from USD2,406.48 an ounce on Friday night.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar at 1000 CEST features Spanish trade balance data.

Iberian consumer confidence will remain known at 1200 CEST, the same time as the release of Chinese foreign direct investment data. No relevant macros are expected from the U.S. in the pmoernoon, where instead three- and six-month T-Note auctions will be held at 1730 CEST.

Among the companies in Piazza Affari, the results of Assicurazioni Generali and Bestbe Holding are expected.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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