(Alliance News) - On Tuesday, major European stock markets trade in positive territory after the release of PMI data in the Eurozone, Germany, France and the UK, while Piazza Affari is the best among European stock markets.

Thus, the FTSE Mib is in the green by 1.1 percent at 34,089.02, as is the Mid-Cap at 46,463.76 and the Small-Cap at 28,214.04, while Italy Growth is in the red by 0.2 percent at 8,039.63.

In Europe, Paris' CAC 40 is up 0.3 percent, London's FTSE 100 is up 0.4 percent, and Frankfurt's DAX 40 is up 0.7 percent.

In macroeconomic news, from provisional data from the April PMI survey compiled by Hamburg Commercial Bank and released Tuesday by S&P Global, Eurozone economic activity indicated the fastest growth in nearly a year.

This improvement signals the region's gradual exit from the recent contraction, despite only modest expansion and divergent sectoral performance.

In detail, the Eurozone composite manufacturing index, rose to 51.4 in April from 50.3 in March.

The index for the manufacturing sector fell to 45.6 in April, the lowest value in four months, from 46.1 in March, and below forecasts of 46.5.

According to flash estimates, the services sector index reached 52.9 in April, marking an 11-month high from 51.5 in March.

In Germany, the German manufacturing PMI index rose to 42.2 in April from 41.9 in March, slightly below the forecast of 42.8.

The reading continues to indicate a sharp deterioration in conditions for manufacturing activity, with a drop in incoming orders that was the highest in five months and faster delivery times being further evidence of weakening demand.

On the other hand, production fell at a slower pace, job losses eased, factory prices fell to the highest since September 2009, and optimism about future production improved.

Back in Milan, on the Mib, Nexi does best of all, rising 4.2 percent.

Telecom Italia is also up, rising 3.9%, on the day of the shareholders' meeting and thanks to signals coming from several quarters on the irreversibility of the sale of the network to the US fund KKR. The top management is expected to be reconfirmed today and it is considered very likely that Vivendi will simply abstain.

As Alliance News columnist Francesco Bonazzi writes, "a shareholders' meeting is scheduled to renew the board of directors. Shareholder Vivendi has not submitted any list, but is expected to choose to abstain. The list of the outgoing board, led by CEO Pietro Labriola, should thus win hands down, and this would be a guarantee that the sale of the network would go through by the summer, without any second thoughts."

Recordati, in the green by 2.2 percent, reported on Monday that it reported revenues of EUR607.8 million in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the same period in 2023.

On the same day, the shareholders' meeting approved the financial statements for the year 2023 and renewed the authorization to purchase and dispose of treasury shares for a maximum number of 3.5 million shares that can be purchased and for a maximum potential outlay of EUR200 million.

The board of directors of Saipem -- up 2.4 percent -- on Monday approved the group's interim report for the period ended March 31, reporting an adjusted profit of EUR57 million, compared to breakeven in the corresponding period of 2023. "In addition to the positive change recorded in adjusted operating income of EUR32 million, there is the effect of the improvement in the balance of financial and tax management for a total of EUR25 million," the company note said.

In the first quarter of 2024, revenues amounted to EUR3.04 billion from EUR2.58 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.

On the Mid-Cap, OVS rises 1.4 percent. The company announced Thursday that it ended the year ended Jan. 31, 2024 with a reported net profit of EUR52.4 million, up from EUR39.6 million in the same period last year.

The board of Piaggio & C. -- in the green by 0.1 percent -- on Monday confirmed Matteo Colaninno as executive chairman of the board and Michele Colaninno as chief executive officer.

On the Small-Cap, CSP International - up 2.9 percent - reported ending 2023 with a net profit of EUR100,000, down from EUR500,000 as of Dec. 31, 2022. Revenues in the period stood at EUR91.6 million from EUR94.2 million in 2022.

Tessellis - down 2.5 percent after Monday's 19 percent green at the close - reported Friday that it had received a notice from Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in connection with the acquisition of the indirect controlling interest. Specifically, Jefferies Financial Group notified the company of the acquisition of the majority of voting rights in Opnet - which holds 59.26 percent of Tessellis' share capital - through its subsidiary BEI Italia Wireless, following the conversion of convertible preferred shares into ordinary shares, held by BEI Italia Wireless in Opnet.

Netweek--not yet affected by trading--approved consolidated financial statements as of Dec. 31, which closed with a consolidated net loss of EUR13.4 million, which compares with a net loss of EUR1.9 million in the previous year.

Sogefi is down 0.3 percent after announcing Monday that in the first quarter it made a net profit of EUR15.0 million from EUR13.2 million in the same period 2023.

Revenues amounted to EUR263.2 million, down from EUR274.0 million in the same period of 2023.

Among SMEs, Redelfi - in the green by 5.4 percent - announced on Monday that it has signed, through its wholly owned U.S.-registered subsidiary Redelfi Corporation, with Elio Energy Group, a U.S. developer already a partner in BESS Power Corporation, the operating agreements to develop an additional 2.4 GW of Battery Energy Storage System projects in the U.S. territory. The new pipeline will be developed by the U.S.-registered newco Redelio Renewables, in which Redelfi Corp. and Elio Group have a 50 percent stake, respectively.

CY4Gate - in the green by 0.8 percent - announced Tuesday that it has signed a number of important contracts with leading Italian companies operating in the financial services sector, following the acquisition of XTN, for the acquisition and functional extension of the Cognitive Security Platform, a platform produced by XTN Cognitive Security and a recognized national and European player in the field of fraud and digital threat detection and response.

The contracts have a total value of more than EUR1 million for the duration of 12 months.

Prisms drops 1.3 percent after it reported that it closed 2023 with a net loss of EUR11.3 million from one of EUR10.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2022.

Production value for the period was EUR18.3 million, down from EUR20.9 million in 2022.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed in the green by 0.3 percent, the Hang Seng rose 1.9 percent and the Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7 percent.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones finished up 0.7 percent at 38,239.98, while the S&P closed in the green by 0.9 percent at 5,010.60 and the Nasdaq ended the session up 1.1 percent at 15,451.31.

Among currencies, the euro changed hands at USD1.0663 from USD1.0644 on Monday in European equities closing while the pound was worth USD1.2363 from USD1.2337 on Monday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is worth USD87.37 a barrel from USD87.05 a barrel Monday evening and gold trades at USD2,312.25 an ounce from USD2,335.71 an ounce Monday evening.

Tuesday's macro calendar includes at 1400 CEST from the U.S. the data on building permits and at 1545 CEST the PMI on tertiary sector purchases, while at 2230 CEST the data on weekly oil inventories will be coming in.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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