Italy - Factors to watch on Aug. 8

The following factors could affect Italian markets on Friday.

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on IT/DIA.

COMPANIES

Milan Stock Exchange After Hours market closed.

MEDIOBANCA MDBI.MI

World's largest asset manager BlackRock held a 5.06% stake in the Italian merchant bank as of July 31, of which 4.6% as voting rights, a filing showed on Thursday.

BANCA POPOLARE SONDRIO BPSI.MI

The bank said on Thursday Morningstar DBRS upgraded its rating to 'BBB high' from 'BBB' following BPER EMII.MI purchase of 80.7%.

LEONARDO LDOF.MI

Germany's government is considering raising its stake in defence electronics maker Hensoldt to 29% from 25.1%, media outlet Politico reported on Thursday, citing industry sources.

One possibility is that the government could acquire further shares from Leonardo, Politico said, adding the considerations were at an early stage.

UNIPOL UNPI.MI

(*) The Italian financial group on Friday posted a 12% rise in its first-half net profit to 622 million euros on a reported basis.

Conference call (1000 GMT).

(*) STELLANTIS STLAM.MI

The automaker said it would cut 59 jobs at its StarPlus Energy electric vehicle battery plant in Indiana, Italian financial daily MF reported on Friday, citing U.S. media.

((Milan newsroom, e-mail: reutersitaly@thomsonreuters.com))

For Italian market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:

20 biggest gainers (in percentage).............PG.MI

20 biggest losers (in percentage)..............PL.MI

FTSE IT allshare index .FTITLMS

FTSE Mib index........ .FTMIB

FTSE Allstars index... .FTSTAR

FTSE Mid Cap index.... .FTITMC

Block trades.......... .BLK.MI

Stories on Italy...... IT-LEN

For pan-European market data and news, click on codes in
brackets:

European Equities speed guide...................EUR/EQUITY

FTSEurofirst 300 index...............................FTEU3

DJ STOXX index.......................................STOXX

Top 10 STOXX sectors............................PGL.STOXXS

Top 10 EUROSTOXX sectors.......................PGL.STOXXES

Top 10 Eurofirst 300 sectors....................PGL.FTEU3S

Top 25 European pct gainers........................PG.PEUR

Top 25 European pct losers.........................PL.PEUR

Main stock markets:

Dow Jones................DJI Wall Street report ......N

Nikkei 225..............N225 Tokyo report.............T

FTSE 100................FTSE London report............L

World Indices.....................................0#.INDEX

Reuters survey of world bourse outlook.........EQUITYPOLL1

Western European IPO diary..........................WEUIPO

European Asset Allocation........................EUR/ASSET

Reuters News at a Glance: Equities...............TOP/EQE

Main currency report:...............................FRX/