ROME, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Financial markets are showing a little optimism, at least in relative terms, as Italy emerges from weeks of coronavirus lockdown.

Italy was the first European country to go into a national lockdown in early March in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. After over 10 weeks, Italy started lifting some of the restrictions on free movement and commerce in early May.

Economists expect the economic consequences of the lockdown to be severe, with the consensus estimate of at least 10 percent of economic contraction for this year.

Despite that, financial markets have shown signs of life in recent days.

Starting last week, the blue-chip index on the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan ran off six consecutive winning sessions for the first time since January. The index lost ground in Friday's session as investors locked in the recent gains, but during the six previous sessions, the index gained a total of 7.4 percent.

Mario Seminerio, a financial analyst and investment manager, said the positive reaction of financial markets in recent sessions was not due to a change in the underlying economic indicators but rather in a change of context.

"Investors realize that the Italian government and the European Union are showing the political will to do what is needed to provide support for markets," Seminerio told Xinhua.

To be sure, markets are still suffering under the weight of the pandemic. Even with the recent gains, the stock market's main index is still nearly 30 percent below its level in mid-February, its 2020 peak. Meanwhile, bond yields -- a low yield is an indication of investor confidence in a country's ability to repay its debt -- were at half the current levels as recently as early February.

The yields on Italy's benchmark 10-year bonds fell in eight of nine sessions before climbing slightly on Friday. At Thursday's close, yields were at their lowest point since March.

According to Andrea Fumagalli, a professor of political economics at the University of Pavia, Italian markets are also benefiting from positive trends in other European markets. Data from other countries over the same span reflect that view, though Italian markets generally fell further than those in other major European countries and they rebounded more in recent days.

But he also said the recent trend is unlikely to last for long until solid indicators about a recovery in employment levels, industrial production, and consumer demand emerge.

"What we are seeing is a belief that the government is making some appropriate decisions," Fumagalli said in an interview. "To recover more of the losses from the period of the lockdown, those decisions will have to start to show results." Enditem

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