(Alliance News) - European stock markets are expected to open lower Monday after the latest data from China added to a gloomy global economic outlook.

Chinese consumer prices remained--unexpectedly--flat in June, compared with market expectations and May's figure of a 0.2 percent increase. This is the lowest reading since deflation in February 2021. The data were released Monday by the National Bureau of statistics of China.

Core consumer prices -- excluding food and energy -- rose 0.4 percent year-on-year, the lowest since March 2021, following a 0.6 percent increase in May.

"With economic data continuing to look weak and central banks showing little sign of easing when it comes to interest rate hikes, there was little to cheer for markets in Europe, with concerns about the weakness of the Chinese economy adding to the uncertainty, " said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets.

Thus, the FTSE Mib, after closing up 1.0 percent at 27,778.32 Friday evening, marks a bearish reading of 150.00 points.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 marks a bearish reading of 18.30 points, Paris' CAC 40 is giving up 36.00 points, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 marks a contraction of 42.00 points.

Friday evening, the Mid-Cap closed up 1.1 percent to 42,130.18, the Small-Cap in the green 0.8 percent to 26,705.16 while the Italy Growth gained 0.3 percent to 9,043.68.

On the main index in Piazza Affari on Friday evening, Saipem did best of all and led the list with a 4.7 percent rise, leading the oil sector with Tenaris gaining 2.6 percent and Eni up 0.1 percent.

Stellantis also did well, in the green by 2.1 percent. The company and NioCorp Developments announced Friday the signing of a binding agreement defining a 10-year rare earth purchase agreement. The goal is to enter into a definitive rare earth supply agreement to support Stellantis' commitment to resilient supply chains and achieve zero carbon emissions by 2038 by helping to accelerate NioCorp's progress toward commercial production of rare earth magnetic oxides in the US.

Also among the Agnelli Galaxy, Ferrari moved up 0.2 percent after announcing the launch of an offer aimed at bondholders of the EUR650.0 million loan maturing in 2025, for up to EUR175.0 million.

Banks also did well, with Mediolanum shares rising 1.7 percent after releasing volumes for June, reporting a total of EUR740 million, EUR6.46 billion since the beginning of the year.

In contrast, total net inflows of EUR447 million rise to EUR4.69 billion when considering since the beginning of the year. Net inflows in assets under management amount to EUR219 million, EUR2.16 billion when considered since the beginning of the year.

Also up was BPER Banca -- up 2.7 percent -- which announced Thursday that it had signed an agreement with the European Investment Fund -- part of the European Investment Bank Group -- through which EIF is offering a EUR110 million guarantee for financing to small and medium-sized enterprises. The agreement will promote investments made by small and medium-sized enterprises and small midcaps in the fields of sustainability, innovation, digitization, and, to a lesser extent, in the areas of culture and creativity. EIF operations benefit from the support of the InvestEU program.

Amplifon closed the list, down 1.7 percent. It does not help news that it has entered as a main partner in Next Age, the first accelerator in Europe that invests in startups developing products or solutions dedicated to the silver economy. Next Age is part of the national CDP Venture Capital accelerator network, a network that now has 18 hubs throughout the country to promote and support the growth of young companies specializing in high-potential markets.

On the Mid-Cap, Juventus Football Club rose 1.9 percent Friday when it announced that it had reached an agreement with Cristiano Giuntoli to serve as Football Director until the conclusion of the 2027-2028 football season, reporting to Maurizio Scanavino, Chief Executive Officer. Giovanni Manna assumes the role of Head of First Team reporting to the new Football Director.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio rose 1.4 percent, after reporting that Fitch, at the conclusion of its annual rating review process, kept all assigned ratings unchanged. Specifically, the bank's Long-term Issuer Default Rating was confirmed at 'BB+' with stable outlook.

On the Small-Cap segment, Pierrel ceded 7.2 percent after announcing that on Wednesday evening the board of directors set the final terms and conditions of the capital increase, to be offered under option to those entitled to it for a maximum amount of EUR70 million, including share premium, to be paid in cash, including by offsetting certain, liquid yet still uncollectible receivables.

Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi Di Bologna rose 3.0 percent, after announcing Thursday that with 982,300 passengers - up 11 percent from the same period in 2022, June was the best month ever in the airport's history, surpassing the previous record figure set in August 2022 by about 26,000.

LVenture gained 1.2 percent after announcing Wednesday that it had completed part of the EUR2.5 million capital increase, to be executed through the issuance of 5.8 million new shares in the company.

PLC System--a PLC Group company that closed in the green by 4.9%--signed a contract with Suncore 2, a Peridot Solar Group company, for the construction of a utility substation serving a high-voltage condominium, serviced by a large photovoltaic park with a total capacity of 31.7 MWp, located in the Nuoro area.

Among SMEs, Relatech rose 1.3 percent after announcing Thursday that it had finalized the acquisition of the remaining 40 percent stake in Sigla Spa, thus rising to the entire share capital of the company specializing in the design and development of ICT solutions.

expert.ai gave up 1.8 percent after signing an investment agreement with the company's main shareholders and GUM Group, under which the latter undertook to subscribe to a capital increase totaling EUR3.8 million.

Redelfi gave up 0.5 percent after announcing Thursday that its subsidiary CerLab had signed a framework agreement with Swiss-registered Raviero, a logistics operator active in the renewable energy market. The agreement is for the purchase of projects provided with authorization for the construction and operation of photovoltaic plants to serve Renewable Energy Communities in the Italian territory.

In New York on Friday evening, the Dow gave up 0.5 percent, the Nasdaq closed 0.1 percent in the red, and the S&P 500 finished down 0.3 percent.

Among Asian exchanges, the Nikkei left 0.6 percent on the parterre, the Shanghai Composite picked up 0.2 percent, and the Hang Seng rallied 0.4 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0945 against USD1.0949 at Friday's European equities close. In contrast, the pound is worth USD1.2800 from USD1.2830 on Friday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD77.94 per barrel versus USD77.47 per barrel at Friday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD1,919.62 an ounce from USD1,935.50 an ounce Friday night.

On Monday's economic calendar, in Europe, the Sentix investor confidence index arrives at 1030 CEST and the Spanish consumer confidence index is also due in the morning.

Overseas, at 1430 CEST in Canada data on building permits are published, while at 1600 CEST it is the turn of U.S. wholesale trade sales.

Among companies listed on the Stock Exchange, no particular events are expected.

By Maurizio Carta, Alliance News reporter

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