(Alliance News) - Piazza Affari closed sharply higher on Monday, with the uncertain outcome of the French elections driving sentiment and, in particular, buying on banks.

The possibility of a technical government to lead France, with a deeply divided parliament, is bouncing stock markets across Europe and reducing spreads with Germany for both Paris and Rome. Driving the recovery are banks, which had fallen back more than other stocks last week.

In the first round, Le Pen's far-right formation took 33.5 percent, compared to the left's 28.5 percent and Macron's 22.1 percent. All observers agree that Rassemblement will win but will not have absolute control of parliament, and eventually a technical government will have to be opted for to break the likely stalemate that will emerge. And a technical government would be wary of making imprudent fiscal operations, which would instead spook markets.

The FTSE Mib closed Monday up 1.7 percent to 33,716.54, the Mid-Cap gained 0.5 percent to 47,047.59, the Small-Cap rose 0.6 percent to 28,844.54, and Italy Growth closed just above par at 8,117.38.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 closed up 0.3 percent, Paris' CAC 40 gained 1.3 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 rose 0.4 percent.

The banking sector closed a good session, with Banca Monte dei Paschi leading the gains with a 6.7 percent increase to EUR4.6790 per share.

Strength also on BPER Banca, which gains 5.8%, with the Emilia-based bank rearing its head again after two sessions closed with bearish candles.

For UniCredit, on the other hand, the gain is 4.6 percent, on the heels of Friday's rise, albeit by a more modest 0.1 percent.

Banca Mediolanum - up 2.7 percent - reported Friday that it had purchased 333,000 of its own ordinary shares between June 24 and June 28. The shares were taken over at an average price per share of EUR10.5582, for a total value of EUR3.5 million.

Terna, on the other hand, gains 1.2 percent. Of note, Goldman Sachs cut the target price to EUR7.60 from EUR7.95 per share, with the recommendation changed to 'sell' from 'neutral'.

Tenaris - down 0.7 percent - reported the purchase of 4.6 million shares that took place between June 24 and June 28. The shares were taken over at an average price of EUR14.3237 for a total value of EUR66.1 million.

On the Mid-Cap, Banca Ifis -- up 5.4 percent and leading the list -- announced Friday that it had successfully completed the restructuring of a securitization worth EUR1.2 billion involving proprietary factoring receivables.

Fincantieri gained 11 percent, following 0.2 percent in the red in the previous session.

Moltiply Group, on the other hand, rose 2.6 percent. Mavriq - the newly formed institutional brand that brings together the brands of Moltiply Group - on Monday announced the acquisition of Switcho, an Italian platform that searches for and selects the best energy deals with a fully digital business model Specifically, Mavriq signed a binding agreement aimed at acquiring 80% of the shares of Switcho Srl, from Marco Tricarico, Redi Vyshka, Francesco Laffi and private investors, including Azimut.

Juventus Football Club - up 2.3 percent - announced that it has reached an agreement with Aston Villa Football Club for the outright acquisition of the rights to the sports performance of the player Douglas Luiz Soares de Paulo for a consideration of EUR50 million, payable in four financial years, plus additional charges of EUR1.5 million.

Among the few bearish performers, d'Amico lost 2.2 percent after three sessions closed with bullish candlestick in which it picked up an aggregate 12 percent.

The tail end of the convoy, however, is Ariston Holding and Maire Tecnimont, both down 2.7 percent. Maire announced Monday that NextChem was awarded a feasibility study and a Pre-FEED - Pre Front-End Engineering Design - contract from FertigHy, relying on its proprietary NX Stami Green AmmoniaTM and NX Stami Nitric AcidTM technologies and integrating hydrogen and electrolyzer know-how into an established technology solution.

The FertigHy consortium, formed in 2023, consists of several shareholders covering the entire value chain, including EIT InnoEnergy, RIC Energy, Maire, Siemens Financial Services, InVivo, and Heineken.

On the Small-Cap, Fiera Milano did well, up 5.1 percent after a 0.3 percent decline in the previous session.

Sogefi, on the other hand, rose 6.6 percent to EUR3.38 per share after a 1.9 percent rise on Friday.

Bestbe Holding did worst of all, plummeting 33 percent and with shares worth EUR0.001 each.

Among SMEs, Espe dropped 2.2% after opening up 12%.

Arterra Bioscience, on the other hand, rose 3.6% to EUR2.28 per share, in its sixth straight session with a bullish candle.

Porto Aviation Group -- unchanged at EUR4.20 -- announced Friday that it will kick off its ERU300,000 buyback program, which has already been approved by shareholders. The company aims to buy back no more than 35,000 of its own ordinary shares between July 1 and no later than October 5, 2025.

UCapital24--down 5.7 percent--reported that the extraordinary shareholders' meeting unanimously approved the merger of Swisstech Consulting into UCapital24.

In New York, at the moment, the Dow is up slightly at 39,129.70, the Nasdaq is up 0.3 percent to 17,785.29, and the S&P is at parity at 5,460.04.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0723 from USD1.0710 on Friday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2641 from USD1.2637 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude trades at USD85.33 per barrel from USD86.26 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,321.13 an ounce from USD2,330.60 on Friday evening.

Tuesday's macroeconomic calendar opens with UK retail price data, due at 0101 CEST, and continues with Spanish unemployment at 0900 CEST and Italian unemployment an hour later.

At 1100 CEST, space is given to the Italian government deficit and Eurozone inflation, which will come at the same time as the eurozone unemployment rate.

Focus on the speech by Jerome Powell, number one at the Federal Reserve, at 1530 CEST, and that of the president of the European Central Bank, expected at the same time.

From the U.S., eyes on new jobs JOLTs, due at 1600 CEST, and weekly oil stocks, expected at 2230 CEST.

Among the companies in the Piazza Affari, CleanBnB and SosTravel.com are expected to report results.

By Giuseppe Fabio Ciccomascolo, Alliance News senior reporter

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