Europe open: Shares edge up as Ukraine peace talks stall; Inditex jumps

(Sharecast News) - European shares opened slightly higher on Wednesday as high-stakes Ukraine peace talks between US and Russian officials ended without agreement. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 was up 0.18% to 576.72 at 0823 GMT. Germany's DAX rose 0.32%, while Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.11% lower.

Moscow and the US failed to make progress on a deal to end the almost four-year war in Ukraine during talks, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

In remarks to Russian media, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that after a five-hour meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner both sides "neither further nor closer to resolving the crisis in Ukraine. There is a lot of work to be done".

The comments came just hours after the autocratic Russian leader issued threats that he was ready for war with Europe.

In equity news, shares in Zara parent company Inditex jumped as the fashion house reported strong nine-month results.

Fiat maker Stellantis jumped on an upgrade from UBS.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com