--ISAE: Italy's March producer confidence first rise since Nov
--ISAE: Italy's March adj orders -8 vs -6 in Feb
--ISAE: Italy's March adj foreign orders -5 vs 0 in Feb
--ISAE: Italy's March adj output outlook +17 vs +13 in Feb
--ISAE: Italy's March adj price outlook +8 vs +11 in Feb
--ISAE: Italy's March adj industrial stocks 1 vs 3 in Feb

Rome, May 3 (BridgeNews) - Italy's producer confidence index rose only a touch in March, to 95 from February's 94, according to a survey released Thursday by Istituto di Studi e Analisi Economica (ISAE). It was the first increase since November and was helped by the improvement in the short-term output outlook. The survey shows expectations for key economic areas such as orders, foreign orders and industrial stocks all worsened compared with February. * * * On an upbeat note, ISAE said the survey shows inflation falling, as the outlook fell from February's 11 to March's 8.
On Friday statistical office ISTAT said preliminary consumer prices as measured by the broad-based national index predicted a rise of 0.4% on the month and an increase of 3.1% on the year, the highest annual increase since August 1996.
Although the output outlook for the next three to four months rose to 17 in March from 13 the month before, the level of orders for the period dropped to -8 from -5, while foreign orders fell to -5 from 0 and industrial stocks slipped to 1 from 3 in February.
The drop in the level of orders was the lowest since August 1999, when it was -12, while for foreign orders it was the lowest since November 1999, when it reached -6. As firms saw the output component for March rise from 13 in February to 17, companies saw the outlook for production over the next three to four months rising 23 from 22 in February following the sharp drop of the month before. The outlook for intermediate good orders through to the summer remained unchanged at 22 from the previous month, while investment goods sharply rose to 31 from 22. Firms in the survey, meanwhile, also reported a fall in inventory levels of finished products to a balance of +1 from +3 in February, bucking the trend of the last months of last year. ISAE, controlled by the Italian Treasury, is one of Italy's leading economic think tanks. The March survey was conducted between the first half of February and the end of the reference month and beginning of April. The ISAE survey is the most comprehensive monthly report of Italian producer expectations.