(Alliance News) - On Friday, major European stock markets close in negative territory, with Piazza Affari doing worst of all on a day in which the banking sector in particular wearied the list.

Thus, the FTSE Mib closes 1.1 percent in the red at 33,308.77, the Mid-Cap gives up 0.9 percent to 47,159.22, as does the Small-Cap at 28,835.20, while Italy Growth gives up 0.4 percent to 8,106.30.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 ends in the red by 0.4 percent, as does Frankfurt's DAX 40, while Paris' CAC 40 gives up 0.5 percent.

In overseas macroeconomic news, the PMI index for the U.S. service sector released by S&P Global on Friday rose to 55.1 in June from 54.8 in the previous month, indicating the strongest expansion in service sector activity since April 2022 and far exceeding market expectations of 53.7, according to preliminary estimates.

As for the Composite PMI, the index rose in June to 54.6, the highest level since April 2022, up from 54.5 in May according to preliminary data. Finally, the U.S. Manufacturing PMI rose to a three-month high of 51.7, up from 51.3 in May, beating forecasts.

On the commodities side, "The price of oil changed little on the day, but still posted its second consecutive week of gains above 10 percent from the lows of early June. The strengthening U.S. dollar put pressure on precious metals, with the price of gold down more than 1 percent and silver down more than 3 percent," commented Axel Rudolph, Senior Market Analyst at online trading platform IG.

On the Mib, Hera does well, in the green by 1.4 percent, as do Saipem and Nexi, up 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent, while the banking sector suffers, with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena down 3.8 percent,preceded by Amplifon also in the red by 3.8 percent and Banca Popolare di Sondrio, down 2.8 percent.

Terna also goes down, down 0.4 percent. According to the company's data, electricity demand in May was 24.7 billion kWh, up 1.9 percent from May 2023.

This positive change, which only partially recovers last year's May figure in which there was a 7.4 percent decline, was achieved with an equal number of working days, 22, and an average monthly temperature basically in line with May 2023.

The figure for electricity demand did not vary from May a year earlier, confirming growth at a slower pace due to a slight recovery in industry of 1.4 percent and a more brisk recovery in services.

At the territorial level, the trend change in May was up 1.8 percent in the North and Center and 2.3 percent in the South and Islands. In the first five months of the year, national requirements are up 1.1 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2023.

On the cadet segment, Fincantieri drops 1.5 percent. The company together with Viking announced Friday that it has signed contracts to build two cruise ships.

The ships will be based on the characteristics of previous ships already built by Fincantieri for this shipowner and will be delivered between 2028 and 2029. The value of the deal has been described as "large."

Maire Tecnimont -- down 1.4 percent -- announced Thursday that NextChem, through its subsidiary NextChem Tech, will act as Technology Design Integrator to develop the Process Design Package for the hydrogen and carbon dioxide recovery unit of the Hail and Ghasha development project.

The Hail and Ghasha project, whose project was awarded to Tecnimont - Maire's Integrated E&C Solutions - by ADNOC in October 2023 for a total value of USD8.7 billion, is one of the most strategic initiatives globally for the decarbonization of the energy transformation industry, the company explained in a note.

Iren rises 1.0 percent after it announced Wednesday that it has signed a new EUR200 million, 18-year green-format credit line with the European Investment Bank to support the group's sustainable investments over 2023-2027 related to power grid resilience projects.

Sesa -- up 1.7 percent -- reported Thursday that it closed the year to April 30 with consolidated revenues and other income of EUR3.21 billion from EUR2.90 billion in 2023 and marking a 10 percent growth.

Among smallcaps, doValue gave up 2.0 percent after it reported that following the announcement of the binding agreement to acquire Gardant, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings confirmed the company's Issuer Credit Rating and Issuer Default Rating at "BB," with a "Stable" outlook.

The rating and outlook confirmation reflect expectations that the Gardant integration will allow doValue to reduce leverage, according to the released note.

Leonardo--declining 1.6 percent on the Mib--reported that it has signed an agreement to sell its outright stake in Industria Italiana Autobus to Seri Industrial, which is in the red by 0.6 percent.

Under the deal, Seri Industrial will take over 98 percent of the share capital while the remaining 2 percent will continue to be held by Invitalia, already a partner along with Leonardo in Industria Italiana Autobus.

Among SMEs, ESI rises 7.1 percent after it announced Friday that it has signed a contract for the construction of a photovoltaic plant, to be built in the province of Alessandria, commissioned by a leading international operator in the energy sector.

The order consists of the design, construction and installation of a photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 5 MWP in the Piedmont region.

The amount of the order, which is approximately EUR4.2 million, will be accrued in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

Ecomembrane gives up 1.7 percent after it announced that SBS Solar, a 55 percent subsidiary of Ecomembrane and part of the consolidation scope, has signed a three-year framework contract with a leading energy operator for the design and supply of Solaxis single-axis solar trackers on nine photovoltaic plants, to be built in the future, with a total installed capacity of more than 100MW.

The total value of materials purchased under the framework contract, for the first four plants under exclusivity, is estimated and will not exceed EUR6.5 million over a three-year period.

Comal rises 0.6 percent after it announced Friday that it has won a EUR1.2 million order from an Italian operator to supply the Sun Hunter tracker.

The tracker is designed and manufactured by Comal at its Montalto di Castro factory and is a state-of-the-art product, already with an extensive track record of completed installations and enabling a significant increase in the levels of energy produced by the plant and a sharp reduction in wind damage.

In New York, the Dow is at parity, the Nasdaq is up 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 gives up 0.1 percent.

Among currencies, the euro changes hands at USD1.0686 from USD1.0718 on Thursday in closing European equities while the pound is worth USD1.2626 from USD1.2675 on Thursday evening.

Among commodities, Brent crude is trading at USD85.78 per barrel from USD85.40 per barrel at Thursday's close. Gold, on the other hand, trades at USD2,338.90 an ounce from USD2,369.60 last night.

Monday's macroeconomic calendar opens with data on German business expectations and the IFO index of business confidence in Germany at 1000 CEST.

At 1200 CEST in the UK, data on the trend in industrial orders are expected, while at the same time there is the Eurogroup meeting and the German Buba monthly report.

An hour later is the turn of the Spanish consumer confidence index and Chinese foreign direct investment data.

No particular announcements are expected among companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.

By Claudia Cavaliere, Alliance News reporter

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