(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari continued to rise in mid-session, supported by banks and A2A, with the latter gaining ground after releasing its quarterly report.

In macroeconomic news, consumer price inflation in Germany was confirmed at 2.2 percent in April, unchanged from the previous month's nearly three-year low, moving closer to the European Central Bank's target of 2.0 percent.

The ZEW indicator of economic sentiment for Germany rose to 47.1 in May, the highest value since February 2022, from 42.9 in April, beating forecasts of 46.

The sub-index of current conditions also improved to minus 72.3 from minus 79.2, compared with expectations of minus 75.8.

This is the tenth consecutive month of increased confidence among financial experts, thanks to signs of economic recovery in Germany and higher-than-expected GDP growth in the first quarter.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 0.5 percent to 34,986.97, the Mid-Cap is up fractionally to 47,843.05, the Small-Cap is up 0.5 percent to 29,626.99 while Italy Growth is up 0.1 percent to 8,235.70.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is in the red 0.1% to 8,203.68, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.2% to 8,430.16 while Frankfurt's DAX 40 is down 0.2% to 18,708.44.

On the Mib, DiaSorin is still doing well, up 1.2% after the release of its accounts. The company reported Friday that it reported first-quarter net income of EUR46.0 million, up from EUR42.0 million in the same period of 2023, and adjusted net income of EUR59 million in line with the March 31, 2023 figure.

BPER Banca, up 2.9 percent, and Monte dei Paschi, up 2.4 percent, also go up. Intesa Sanpaolo also rises, up 0.8%, after issuing a EUR1 billion perpetual bond.

Italgas falls, in the red 1.1 percent after the release of its quarterly report. The company reported Tuesday that it ended the first quarter with revenues down but profits up year-on-year.

The company's revenues fell 10 percent to EUR431.3 million from EUR479.9 million in the same period a year earlier, with transmission revenues up to EUR383.8 million, other regulated gas distribution revenues changed little, to EUR19.7 million from EUR19.3 million, while miscellaneous revenues plummeted to EUR27.8 million from EUR117.1 million.

A2A did well, up 1.8 percent a few minutes after it reported that first-quarter net income rose to EUR294 million from EUR173 million in the same period a year earlier and revenues fell to EUR3.42 billion from EUR5.13 billion.

Ebitda improved, however, to EUR703 million from EUR501 million, and operating income to EUR465 million from EUR289 million.

On the Mid-Cap, Italmobiliare rises 1.6 percent. The company reported Monday that it closed the first quarter with revenues of EUR166.2 million, up 20 percent from EUR138.5 million as of March 31, 2023.

Net Asset Value was EUR2.21 billion from EUR2.20 billion in 2023.

Fincantieri is up 0.8 percent to EUR0.6190 per share after reporting Friday that Vard, the group's Norwegian subsidiary, signed a contract for the design and construction of two commissioning service operaion vessels with an international client in Taiwan.

Lottomatica Group -- down 0.5 percent -- on Monday announced plans to issue and place bonds for a total aggregate amount of EUR900 million according to the following combination: fixed-rate senior secured bonds maturing in 2030 denominated and floating-rate senior secured bonds maturing in 2031.

Among smallcaps, Pininfarina gives up 2.7 percent after it reported that it ended the first quarter with revenues of EUR22.5 million from EUR17.4 million a year earlier.

It significantly reduced its net loss to EUR600,000 from the EUR2.4 million red as of March 31 last year.

Newlat Food -- down 1.4 percent -- reported Tuesday that it ended the first quarter with a consolidated net profit of EUR5.2 million, up 25 percent from EUR4.2 million as of March 31, 2023.

Consolidated revenues for the period stood at EUR199.6 million, down slightly from EUR207.3 million in last year's first quarter.

Centrale del Latte d'Italia gives up 1.4 percent after reporting Tuesday that it ended the first quarter with revenues virtually unchanged year-on-year, at EUR81.9 million from EUR81.8 million in the same period last year.

Dexelance, formerly Italian Design Brands, rises 0.8 percent after reporting Monday that it ended the first quarter of the year with a profit of EUR300,000 versus EUR1.4 million in the same period of 2023.

Adjusted net income rises to EUR3.3 million from EUR5.4 million as of March 31, 2023.

Among SMEs, Innovatec rises 2.3 percent after announcing Monday that Pietro Colucci has resigned as CEO and board member. The decision, Colucci explained in a statement, "is in no way related to the progress of the Genovese investigation, for which I have not received any notice or charges to date," but is instead linked to "the wide prominence that has been given to my position in the national press."

Sia--down 2.5 percent--reported Tuesday that in the first quarter it reported a value of production of about EUR3.4 million, in line with the previous year.

The backlog stood at EUR36.3 million compared to EUR27.1 million as of March 31, 2023, up 25 percent.

CY4Gate -- up 2.6 percent -- reported Monday that it had signed a contract worth a total of about EUR1 million for cybersecurity solutions.

In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei closed up 0.5 percent to 38,356.06, the Hang Seng lost 0.2 percent to 19,073.71 and the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1 percent to 3,145.77.

In New York, the Dow closed Monday down 0.2 percent to 39,431.51, the Nasdaq rose 0.3 percent to 16,388.24 and the S&P 500 finished just below par at 5,221.42.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0787 from USD1.0793 on Monday in European equities closing while the pound was worth USD1.2535 from USD1.2556 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD83.31 per barrel from USD83.25 per barrel on Monday. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,338.74 an ounce from USD2,334.56 an ounce last night.

On Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar, in the afternoon, at 1430 CEST, will come the producer price index from the US and at 1430 CEST will be the turn of Canadian wholesale sales.

At 1600 CEST, a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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