Europe midday: Shares extend gains despite Israel attacks on Lebanon

(Sharecast News) - European shares rallied and oil prices fell on Tuesday as Iran and Israel agreed a ceasefire and US President Donald Trump once again claimed a peace deal with Tehran was close. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.62% to 625 at 1214 BST.

Sentiment was also boosted by news that US artificial intelligence company OpenAI had secretly filed a prospectus for a potential US listing, although it gave no indication of how much money it was trying to raise.

Brent crude prices fell to below $93 a barrel after Trump said talks on a peace deal with Iran were in their "final throes of what will be a very, very good deal".

When asked whether it would be matter of days or weeks, Trump claimed an agreement would take "two or three days", adding that the strait of Hormuz would "open up right away" once it was signed.

Iran on Monday stopped missile strikes against Israel but warned they would resume if Israeli forces continued their attacks on Lebanon, Tehran's foreign ministry told CNBC on Monday.

The fragility of the "peace" was highlighted by later comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said the conflict with Iran and Hezbollah was "not yet over" and the army issued a forced evacuation order for residents of Tyre, Lebanon's fifth biggest city, ahead of attacks.

"Urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the camps and surrounding neighbourhoods," officials said, warning residents to "evacuate immediately" and "move north beyond the Zahrani river".

In equity news, shares in BE Semiconductor and Infineon both gained on the OpenAI prospectus filing.

Zealand Pharma rebounded from Monday's heavy losses sparked by side effect concerns around its weight loss drug candidate.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com