A sewing or looping head, particularly for the automated closing of tubular knitted articles at one of their axial ends comprising a pair of sewing elements, which can move along corresponding actuation paths and cooperate with each other in forming a sewing chain stitch, and a cutting element, which can be actuated to cut the sewing chain stitch; in the sewing or looping head, the cutting element can engage the sewing chain stitch proximate to the crossing point of the paths of the pair of sewing elements or the point where the sewing chain stitch is formed, so as to minimize the length of the sewing chain stitch that exceeds the length needed to sew or loop the article and so as to reduce the time required to perform the sewing or looping operation.