Europe open: Stocks gain amid US-Iran peace hopes

(Sharecast News) - European stocks rose in early trade on Friday as investors grew increasingly hopeful of a peace deal between the US and Iran. At 0832 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 index was up 0.4%, while Germany's DAX was 0.2% higher and France's CAC 40 was up 0.6%. At the same time, Brent crude was 0.8% lower at $92.93 a barrel.

Late on Thursday, Axios reported that the US and Iran have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Citing two US officials and a regional source involved in the mediation efforts, Axios said Trump has yet to give his final approval, while Iran has also not confirmed its acceptance.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said the US was "very close" to finalising an agreement with Iran but that there were still a few sticking points, such as "a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile and also the question of enrichment".

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "Brent is now down more than 18% this month, which would be its biggest monthly decline since March 2020. That move is central to the equity rally because it eases the immediate inflation scare, improves the real-income outlook and lowers the risk that central banks are forced into further tightening.

"But the deal is still tentative, and the market has already learned several times this month that the peace premium can reverse quickly."

There were no major European corporate earnings out, but Ocado shot up 12% after saying it has agreed to enter a partnership with Asda to develop the latter's online business across the UK with the Ocado Smart Platform.

The focus of the partnership will be to quickly replace and upgrade Asda's existing ecommerce infrastructure, with Ocado's solutions to be rolled out across both stores and dark stores from 2027.

Elsewhere, German ticket company CTS ⁠Eventim rallied after well-received first-quarter results.