European Shares Rally On US-Iran Peace Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded higher on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran were "in negotiations right now" and they "want to make a deal so badly".

While Tehran dismissed the U.S. president's claim of talks, a slew of media reports suggested that efforts towards a diplomatic solution have intensified.

The British pound remained under pressure against the dollar after data showed U.K. consumer price inflation remained unchanged at 3.0 percent in February, as expected.

The pan European Stoxx 600 surged 1.5 percent to 587.91 after rising 0.4 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX jumped 1.8 percent, France's CAC 40 rallied 1.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up a little over 1 percent.

Airline stocks traded higher, with Lufthansa gaining 1.6 percent and Air France KLM surging 3.3 percent as oil prices fell nearly 4 percent in anticipation of a de-escalation of the Middle East war.

Orange SA shares fell over 1 percent. The French telecom company said that it has inked a deal with Verdoso with a view to a potential divestment of Globecast, a media services business of Orange.

Tubular solutions firm Vallourec surged 4 percent after it secured five contracts for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) products to be delivered in Indonesia.

Jenoptik soared 8 percent. After reporting weaker full-year results for 2025, the German photonics and semiconductor equipment maker said it expects both an increase in revenue and an improvement in the EBITDA margin in fiscal 2026.

Shares of United Utilities rallied 3 percent in London. The water utility issued a pre-close update ahead of its full-year results for the year ending March 31, 2026, indicating that performance remains in line with expectations.