Piazza Affari arrives slightly up at the end of the morning after steep declines accumulated last week due to the political earthquake triggered, especially in France, by the European elections.

Piazza Affari is in line the other Old Continent stock exchanges--Paris is also slightly positive--while futures on U.S. indices float around parity.

Around 11:45 a.m. the Ftse Mib rises 0.4 percent with volumes around 750 million.

Among the outstanding stocks:

The banking index, under heavy pressure Friday, rises 0.6 percent thanks in part to the cooling of the Btp/Bund spread after widening last week.

Lively Unipol (+1.7%) in a sector ignited by an M&A deal in Northern Europe, where Finnish insurer Sampo will take over Danish Topdanmark. On Saturday Milano Finanza wrote that Unipol could buy 10% of Mps (+0.4%) in the process of the Treasury's exit from the bank, a deal that could also involve an investment by Anima (+0.4%).

Reduces losses Fincantieri, slipped to over 3% as news spread of the sudden death of its chairman, General Claudio Graziano. Around 11.45 a.m. it loses 2 percent.

Purchases on Mfe, Leonardo, Telecom.

In the energy sector, Saipem and Erg (-2.5%) fall.

(Claudia Cristoferi, editing Gianluca Semeraro)