(Alliance News) - On Friday, major European stock markets continued trading in positive territory at mid-day, following the European Central Bank's expected announcement to cut the deposit rate at the central bank by 25 percentage points as expected by the market and data on Eurozone industrial production.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is up 0.2 percent to 33,523.30, Mid-Cap is in the green 0.8 percent to 45,960.77, Small-Cap is up 0.4 percent to 28,261.99, and Italy Growth is down 0.3 percent to 7,865.90.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 is in the green by 0.1 percent, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.3 percent and Frankfurt's DAX 40 advances 0.4 percent.

In macroeconomic news, Eurozone industrial production fell 0.3 percent monthly in July, as expected after a flat reading in June.

Output fell for intermediate goods by1.3% from 0.6%, capital goods by 1.6% from 1.0%, and consumer durables by 2.8% from 3.8%; again, it slowed for energy to 0.3% from 1.7% and rebounded for consumer nondurables to 1.8% from a 2.3% decline.

On a year-over-year basis, output fell 2.2% in July after an upwardly revised 4.1% decline in June.

On the Mib, Telecom Italia does best of all, rising 1.6 percent. The company announced Thursday that Sparkle has signed an agreement with Airtel Business-the B2B arm of Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading telecom service providers-to provide additional capacity on a diversified low-latency route between Asia and Europe.

Under the agreement, Sparkle will provide capacity on the Blue and Raman submarine cable systems connecting India to Italy.

Also going up is DiaSorin, up 1.5 percent, and Amplifon, which rounds out the podium with a 1.3 percent gain.

Banco BPM also does well, in the green by 1.2 percent. The company announced Thursday that its board has resolved to proceed with a securitization sale of a portfolio of more than 330 properties owned for non-instrumental use, the total book value of which is about EUR295 million.

Among the bearish, Nexi sits on the bottom and gives up 3.1 percent. FinecoBank and Leonardo also go down, down 1.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

On the Mid-Cap, El.En. - in the green by 2.9 percent - reported Wednesday that the first half ended with revenues of EUR312.9 million, down about 9 percent from the same period in 2023, when they were EUR345.6 million.

Group net income reached EUR27.3 million, marking an increase of about 6 percent compared to EUR25.8 million in 2023.

Sesa, in the green by 3.1 percent, reported Thursday that it closed the first quarter to July 31 with a group profit of EUR21.2 million from EUR22.0 million in the first quarter of 2023.

In contrast, adjusted net income attributable to the group was EUR26.6 million, up 0.5 percent from EUR26.5 million as of July 31, 2023.

In addition, the company on Thursday announced that it has signed a binding agreement, through its subsidiary Base Digitale Group, active in the Business Services sector, to acquire a 70 percent stake in Metoda Finance, thus strengthening its expertise in the development of digital platforms and software solutions for the Financial Services industry.

Among smallcaps, doValue -- in the green by 8.9 percent -- on Friday announced that its subsidiary doValue Greece Real Estate Services, which specializes in real estate asset management, has signed a contract with a major Greek bank to manage about 2,000 real estate assets with a net book value of about EUR200 million.

Mondo TV rises 3.7 percent. On Thursday it announced that it has entered into a new agreement with Hong Kong-based Studio56.

The agreement provides for the digital rights-only license of some animated series from Mondo TV's catalog including Partidei and Invention Story for the Indian territory and SAARC countries. It also announced a new agreement with Telecom Italia on Wednesday.

The new agreement covers some library titles, provides for a flat fee and a duration of 3 years.

I Grandi Viaggi rises 0.4 percent after announcing Thursday that it closed the first half with a loss of EUR1.8 million, an improvement from a loss of EUR2.0 million as of June 30, 2023.

Revenues for the period stood at EUR34 million from EUR32.2 million in the first half of 2023.

Unidata gives up 2.1 percent. The company and SS Lazio -- down 1.4 percent on the Small-Cap -- announced Thursday the renewal of the partnership for three sports seasons. Until 2027 Unidata will thus continue to support the biancoceleste club as Technology Partner.

Orsero gives up 5.2 percent. The company reported Thursday that first-half net revenues of EUR744.1 million were down slightly from the EUR763.4 million recorded in the same period last year.

Among SMEs, CY4Gate gives up 11 percent after it reported that it closed the first half with revenues of EUR29.8 million from EUR33.1 million as of June 30, 2023.

The period closed with a loss of EUR9.2 million from that of EUR3.0 million in the first half of 2023.

Revo Insurance - in the green by 0.2 percent - reported Thursday the completion of the approval process with the relevant supervisory bodies for the opening of the company's Spanish branch, Revo Iberia.

In Asia, the Nikkei gave up 0.7 percent to 36,581.76, the Hang Seng picked up 0.8 percent to 17,369.09, and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 percent to 2,704.09.

In New York on European night, the Dow closed in the green 0.6 percent to 41,096.77, the Nasdaq rose 1.0 percent to 17,569.68, and the S&P 500 closed up 0.8 percent to 5,595.76.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.1099 against USD1.1033 on Thursday in closing European equities while the pound was worth USD1.3150 from USD1.3075 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude trades at USD72.61 per barrel versus USD72.57 per barrel at Thursday's European stock close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,599.30 an ounce from USD2,552.95 an ounce on Thursday evening.

Friday's macroeconomic calendar features the U.S. export and import price indexes at 1430 CEST, while, at 1600 CEST, Michigan consumer sentiment will come out.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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