June 12 - European share indexes opened strongly on Friday as a pullback in oil prices coincided with broad-based gains across most sectors.
By 07:20 GMT the pan-European STOXX 600 had climbed 1.2% to 628.81 points and was on track for roughly a 1% gain for the week. The advance followed a more than 2% drop in Brent crude, which extended losses from the previous session after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled plans to strike Iran - a development that market participants interpreted as lowering the risk of a wider escalation of hostilities.
Notably, every sector except energy moved higher at the open. Travel and leisure stocks outperformed, rising 3.4% overall, with airline names among the standouts: Lufthansa gained 4.6% and Air France rose 5.7%. The banking group also performed well, advancing 2.3% as lenders including Barclays and Standard Chartered increased by more than 2%.
Selected industrials and equipment suppliers also posted gains. Companies positioned as AI equipment enablers made modest advances, with Legrand up about 1% and Schneider Electric adding 1.4%.
In healthcare, Novo Nordisk rose 0.4% after Britain’s medicines regulator approved the company’s oral weight-loss pill on Thursday, a regulatory milestone that makes the UK the first European market where patients can access the treatment.
Other movers included online gaming operator Entain, which climbed 3.2% after Barclays upgraded the European gaming sector to market-weight.
On the macro front, data released showed German inflation eased slightly to 2.7% in May, while the UK economy contracted by 0.1% in April. Market commentary also noted that the benchmark had snapped a four-day losing streak a day earlier, as investors processed the European Central Bank’s recent rate increase and appeared to largely set aside the heightened rhetoric surrounding the U.S.-Iran situation.
Market snapshot (selected moves)
- Barclays: +3.19%
- Lufthansa: +5.38%
- Air France: +6.4%
- Schneider Electric: +1.66%
- Novo Nordisk: +0.48%
- Standard Chartered: +2.51%
- Legrand: +0.71%
- Brent crude: -2.46%
- Entain: +2.97%
- FXXPc1: +1.09%
The trading session reflected a market environment sensitive to geopolitical developments and central bank policy, with energy stocks pressured by lower oil and cyclical sectors such as travel and banking benefiting from reduced conflict risk.