European Stocks Close On Strong Note After Iran Opens Strait Of Hormuz For Commercial Traffic

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a strong note on Friday, buoyed by news that Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open to commercial traffic on the heels of the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open and ready for business" but said the U.S. will continue its blockade of Iranian ports until a final peace agreement is reached.

Oil prices tanked 14% following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz helped ease concerns about inflation and growth, and contributed substantially to the bullish sentiment in global markets.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.56%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.73%, Germany's DAX surged 2.27% and France's CAC 40 moved up nearly 2%. Switzerland's SMI finished with a gain of 1.92%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Norway, Portugal and Russia ended weak.

In the UK market, miners Fresnillo and Antofagasta climbed about 6.5% and 5%, respectively. Endeavour Mining moved up 3.4%, Anglo American Plc gained 3.1% and Rio Tinto ended 1.1% up.

IAG climbed more than 6%. Intercontinental Hotels Group, Melrose Industries, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Persimmon, Intertek Group, ICG, Berkeley Group Holdings, 3i Group, Burberry Group, Compass Group, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, Games Workshop, Standard Chartered, British Land, RightMove, Standard Life and Marks & Spencer were among the other major gainers.

Energy stocks BP and Shell fell 7.3% and 5.6%, respectively, as oil prices tanked. SSE, Centrica, Glencore, Tesco, Vodafone Group and BT Group were among the other notable losers.

In the German market, Infineon jumped more than 6%. Continental and MTU Aero Engines both moved up by over 5%. BMW, Volkswagen, Commerzbank, Siemens, Vonovia, Adidas, Deutsche Post, Scout24, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Bank, SAP and Daimler Truck Holding gained 3%-4.5%.

Merck, Symrise, Henkel, Gea Group, Deutsche Telekom, Fresenius Medical Care, Porsche Automobil Holding, Zalando, Siemens Healthineers, Allianz and Bayer also closed with strong gains.

Delivery Hero shares moved up sharply as Uber agreed to buy an additional 4.5% stake in the German food delivery business.

RWE, E.ON, Brenntag, Mercedes-Benz and BASF ended notably lower. Train maker Alstom plummeted 30% after withdrawing its medium-term forecast. Despite recovering from the day's low, the stock was down more than 16% a little while ago.

In Paris, STMicroelectronics climbed about 7.5%. Stellantis moved up nearly 7%. Safran, Hermes International, ArcelorMittal, Saint Gobain, Airbus, Michelin, BNP Paribas, EssilorLuxottica, Dassault Systemes, Schneider Electric, Societe Generale, Renault, Kering, LVMH, Credit Agricole, Accor, Legrand, Vinci and Unibail Rodamco gained 2%-6%.

Orange ended more than 5% down. A consortium including the French telecom giant, Bouygues Telecom and Free-iliad Group has submitted an offer and started negotiations with the Altice France group to acquire SFR. Bouygues shares ended marginally down.

TotalEnergies tumbled 5.2% on weak oil prices. Carrefour and Engie also ended notably lower.

In economic news, Eurozone exports decreased for the second straight month in February, data from Eurostat showed. Exports decreased 6.7% year-on-year in February, slower than the 7.7% fall in January. Likewise, imports dropped 2.2% from a year ago, following a 7.8% decrease in January.

As a result, the trade balance posted a surplus of EUR 11.5 billion, representing a substantial improvement from the EUR 1 billion deficit in January.

On a month-on-month basis, exports grew 0.9% in February and imports increased 3.5%. Consequently, the seasonally adjusted trade surplus fell to EUR 7.0 billion from EUR 12.8 billion in January.