European Stocks Close Higher Amid Signs Of De-escalation In Middle East War

(RTTNews) - European stocks reversed early losses and closed higher on Monday, amid signs of a de-escalation in the ongoing Iran conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause on strikes over Iran.

The statement from Trump resulted in a sharp fall in oil prices, and a remarkable rally in the stock markets.

Stocks had plunged sharply earlier in the day as brent crude climbed to $114 a barrel after Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning of strikes on power plants. Tehran retaliated by saying that it would attack Israel's power plants and plants supplying U.S. bases in the Gulf if Trump carries out his threat to "obliterate" Iran's power network.

After Trump's remarks that Washington has held "very good and productive" conversations with Iran and has ordered a temporary halt to planned military strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure, oil prices tumbled.

In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said the decision followed "in-depth, detailed, and constructive" discussions over the past two days aimed at achieving a "complete and total resolution" of hostilities in West Asia.

Brent crude futures, which fell to $96 a barrel after Trump's latest announcement, subsequently moved past $100 a barrel, but still remained sharply below last week's closing price.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up by 0.61% at 576.78, recovering from a low of 559.05%. Germany's DAX, which tumbled to 21,863.38, the lowest level in about 13 months, settled with a gain of 1.22% at 22,653.86, and France's CAC 40 closed up by 0.79% at 7,726.20, rallying from a nine-month low of 7,505.27.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100, which dropped to 9,670.18, surged to 10,036.65 before paring gains to settle at 9,894.15, down 0.24%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.56% up 12,389.68, coming off a low of 12,053.51.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed higher.

Finland and Norway ended weak, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Iceland closed flat.

In the UK market, Entain climbed more than 8%. Miners Antofagasta and Anglo American Plc closed up by 7.3% and 5.5%, respectively. Fresnillo ended 3.3% up, and Rio Tinto gained about 2.1%.

Croda International rallied 5.6%. IAG, Smiths Group, Barratt Redrow, Burberry Group, Weir Group, HSBC Holdings, Halma, Standard Chartered and IMI gained 3%-5%.

Easyjet, Persimmon, Spirax Group, Barclays, IMI, JD Sports Fashion, Lloyds Banking Group, Mondia and Natwest Group moved up 2%-3%.

BT Group ended lower by nearly 6% and BAE Systems settled 4.9% down. Tesco, Admiral Group, Centrica, SSE, The Sage Group, Haleon, LSEG, BP, Shell, Sainsbury (J), Rightmove, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Autotrader Group also declined sharply.

In the German market, Brenntag, Siemens Energy, Heidelberg Materials, Commerzbank, Siemens, Continental, Daimler Truck Holding, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, BASF, Infineon and MTU Aero Engines closed with strong gains.

Zalando, RWE, Vonovia, Rheinmetall, Qiagen and Hannover RE ended notably lower.

In the French market, ArcelorMittal, Societe Generale, Kering, Saint Gobain, Safran, Schneider Electric, Airbus, Stellantis, Legrand, STMicroelectronics and Vinci gained 2%-5%. Renault, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Accor, Michelin, Veolia Environment and Bouygues also finished with strong gains.

Teleperformance, Pernod Ricard, Carrefour, Bureau Veritas and TotalEnergies closed notably lower.