By Ragini Mathur
April 22 (Reuters) – European shares were flat on Wednesday as markets assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of an indefinite ceasefire with Iran, while investors also digested a raft of regional corporate earnings reports.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.07% at 616.48 points, as of 0845 GMT.
Major regional bourses were also subdued, with Germany’s DAX down 0.05% and London’s FTSE up 0.02%.
Despite signs of easing tensions in the Middle East, geopolitical uncertainty continues to weigh on markets. Trump’s ceasefire announcement appeared unilateral, with neither Iran nor Israel signalling whether they would honour the agreement.
Trump also said the U.S. Navy would maintain its blockade of Iranian ports and coastlines, suggesting Iran may continue restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
“If you look past the short term noise, the uncertainties persist and the energy markets are now in a very tight route,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
“We know that the rising energy prices are weighing on demand and on economic growth projections. So unless we do see concrete progress in peace negotiations, I believe that the moves up and down do not necessarily reflect a high conviction direction.”
In markets, the energy sector jumped 1.6% as oil prices stayed near $100 a barrel. Materials and technology gained 1% and 0.7%, respectively.
Travel and leisure stocks led losses on Wednesday with a 1.6% decline as high energy cost and geopolitical uncertainty weighed.
Telecommunications dropped 0.5%. Deutsche Telekom slipped 3.2% after reports that the company is considering a full combination with T-Mobile US that could result in the largest public M&A deal on record.
Global markets have rebounded in April following a steep decline amid escalating Middle East tensions, largely returning to pre-war levels as peace prospects and ceasefire announcements fueled renewed risk appetite.
However, the European benchmark has yet to fully recover its war-related losses. Analysts point to the region’s heavy dependence on imported energy as a key factor diminishing the appeal of European equities compared to other global markets.
In earnings-related moves, ASM International jumped 8.3% to an all-time high after the computer chip equipment maker forecast stronger second-quarter revenue than markets anticipated.
ABB climbed 3.5% to a record high after the Swiss engineering group raised its full-year sales outlook as booming demand from data centres and other parts of its electrification business offset heightened uncertainties linked to the Iran war.
Dettol soap maker Reckitt declined 5.5% after missing quarterly like-for-like net revenue expectations for its core business and warned of lower first‑half margins.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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