European stocks rise on technology shares and US-Iran trades

As European scholarships operate at a high this Friday morning (22), driven by technology stocks, while investors assess signs of progress in peace negotiations between USA e Iranalthough disagreements persist on some points.

At around 6:30 am (Brasília time), the pan-European Stoxx 600 index advanced 0.53%, to 623.83 points. Among sectors, technology was the main highlight, with an increase of 1.7%.

Yesterday afternoon, news circulated that the United States and Iran had reached a final draft of a Pakistan-brokered peace agreement.

Hours before, Reuters had reported that Tehran intended to keep its enriched uranium in the country, an assertion later denied by an Iranian official.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that there had been progress in the talks, but warned that a proposal from Iran to implement a permanent toll system in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits, could make an agreement with the US unfeasible.

This is supported by oil, which rose again after three days of decline. At the time above, Brent rose 2.5%, to around US$105 per barrel.

At the macroeconomic level, the most recent data on consumer and business confidence in Germany improved, but British retail disappointed in April, with a larger-than-expected drop in sales.

At 6:43 am (Brasília time), the London Stock Exchange rose 0.34%, the Paris Stock Exchange increased 0.35% and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange gained 0.59%. Those in Milan, Madrid and Lisbon, in turn, registered increases of 0.53%, 0.33% and 0.32%, respectively.

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