European Shares Rebound As Oil Supply Concerns Ease

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded higher on Friday as oil prices moderated in response to the efforts by the U.S. and Israel to ease concerns about ongoing fuel supply issues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said U.S. President Donald Trump had requested that there be no further attacks on the Iranian gas field.

Trump suggested that he has no plans to deploy American troops to the Middle East. To increase oil supply and bring down energy prices, U.S. officials said Washington may soon lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers.

In economic releases, the U.K. budget deficit reached the second highest level on record for the month of February, the Office for National Statistics reported.

Public sector net borrowing rose by GBP 2.2 billion to GBP 14.3 billion in February, surpassing the expected level of GBP 8.7 billion.

Elsewhere, German producer prices logged an annual fall of 3.3 percent in February, slower than the 3.0 percent decrease seen in January largely due to the sharp fall in energy prices, Destatis said.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.9 percent at 588.64 after tumbling 2.4 percent in the previous session following attacks on Iranian and Qatari energy infrastructure.

The German DAX surged 1.2 percent, France's CAC 40 gained 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up half a percent.

Swiss pharma major Novartis rose about 1 percent after it agreed to buy an experimental breast cancer drug from Synnovation Therapeutics for as much as $3 billion.

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon slumped 11 percent after reporting a notable drop in profits in the first half.

Engineering group Smiths Group lost 6 percent after half-year revenue growth fell short of estimates.

Swedish Construction group Skanska added nearly 2 percent on bagging a USD 165 million contract in the Unted States.

Stellantis rose 1.3 percent. Its battery-electric vehicles in North America now have access to the Tesla Supercharger network via adapters.