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British Equities Close Little Changed; US-Iran Negotiations Progress

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Britain's FTSE 100 ended the week 0.09% in the red as the US and Iran reportedly reached a preliminary deal to extend the ceasefire for 60 days, which remains subject to US President Donald Trump's final approval.

However, Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency cited a source as saying the proposed memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington remained unfinished after changes to the text in recent days, while also pushing back on some media reports on the potential deal, Al Jazeera reported.

Back home and in corporate news, Ocado Group (OCDO.L) agreed to develop supermarket and petrol station chain Asda's online business across the UK with the Ocado Smart Platform, sending the London-listed grocery technology group's shares up 7.11% on Friday's close. The partnership is set to go live in early 2027, allowing Asda to offer online services such as scheduled and short lead-time orders, as well as click and collect.

"The deal broadens Ocado's UK exposure beyond existing partnerships and further positions the company as a technology and fulfilment enabler across multiple operating models, including store-based ecommerce fulfilment," AlphaValue/Baader Europe said. "While management does not expect a material FY26 financial contribution, the partnership improves medium-term revenue visibility and supports Ocado's pathway toward positive free cash flow generation in H2 FY26 and FY27."

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca (AZN.L) received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Imfinzi, or durvalumab, plus Bacillus Calmette-Guérin induction and maintenance therapy for adults with BCG-naïve, high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The drugmaker was up 0.48%.

It was a quiet day for local economic news, with investors anticipating the final S&P Global PMI figures, Bank of England mortgage and consumer credit reports, and Nationwide and Halifax house price data next week.

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DAX Index Ends Week Flat; German Inflation Eases

Local equities climbed on the last trading day of the month, with the blue-chip DAX index up 0.05% at Friday's close, with investors weighing the latest batch of German economic data against tentative hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the Middle East conflict.According to data from Destatis, German annual inflation slowed to 2.6% in May, against the previous and expected 2.9%. The core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy prices, rose to 2.5% from 2.3% in April."Today's inflation data was a welcome, though not fully unexpected, surprise. However, it would be naive to think that the inflation wave has stopped before it really got started. Instead, inflation will crawl up in the coming months, probably reaching 4% by late summer. However, we take today's data as another piece of evidence that any repetition of the 2022 inflation shock is unlikely," ING said.On the jobs front, federal agency Bundesagentur für Arbeit reported that Germany's unemployment rate slipped to 6.3% in May from 6.4% in April, below the consensus estimate of 6.4%. The number of unemployed individuals in Germany declined by 12,000, compared with the revised 19,000 increase earlier and the expected 11,000 jump, according to Investing.com data.In geopolitical news, reports from Axios and Bloomberg of a tentative 60-day ceasefire extension between the US and Iran, alongside the resumption of talks about Iran's nuclear program, boosted investor sentiment. US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that the two sides were "going back and forth on a couple of language points.""Those headlines helped to drive a sharp move lower for oil yesterday. So Brent crude pared back its earlier gains to close -0.62% lower, hitting a one-month low of $93.71 [per barrel], with further declines overnight to $92.40/bbl. Indeed, it also means that oil prices are down over -18% over May as a whole, which would make this the biggest monthly decline since March 2020, back when the Covid-19 pandemic began and the world moved into lockdowns," Deutsche Bank Research wrote.On the corporate side, Deutsche Post (DHL.F), d/b/a DHL Group, unit DHL eCommerce, and the United States Postal Service signed an exclusive last-mile parcel delivery agreement. Expected to be worth over $10 billion, the multi-year deal will allow the German logistics group's subsidiary to scale its US market footprint. DHL fell 0.16% at the end of the session.

$^DAX$DHL.F
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Swiss Shares Tick Up as Investors Await US-Iran Ceasefire Extension

Swiss shares ended the week on a cautious note of optimism as markets awaited confirmation of a potential extension to the US-Iran ceasefire along the Strait of Hormuz.The Swiss Market Index closed 0.28% higher on Friday, finishing the week in the green after reports that US and Iranian diplomats reached a tentative deal to extend their ceasefire by 60 days and open a new round of talks on Tehran's nuclear program.In corporate news, UBS Group (UBSG.SW) reportedly let go of several hundred staff across its offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as part of integration efforts following its 2023 takeover of Credit Suisse, sources told Bloomberg. UBS had no comment on the Bloomberg story, but toldthat it will keep the number of job cuts related to the integration at home and globally "as low as possible." The stock was up 0.95%.Looking outside the blue-chip index, Dottikon ES (DESN.SW) plunged 20.92% after reporting lower earnings for its fiscal year ended March 31 and scrapping its dividend, citing the need to reinvest in the business.Meanwhile, Sandoz Group (SDZ.SW) was 0.43% higher at close after it filed a draft anti-dumping complaint with the European Commission regarding Chinese imports of amoxicillin, which the pharmaceutical company said are clearly distorting the market with below-cost pricing and state subsidies.On the economic front, the KOF Swiss Economic Institute's economic barometer increased to 98 points in May from the revised 97.8 points in April. KOF said the figure, which remains below the indicator's medium-term average, reflects a "muted" Swiss economy.The next week will bring a fresh batch of Swiss economic data, starting with April retail sales and the final reading of first-quarter GDP on Monday, followed by April trade numbers on Tuesday. May inflation and unemployment numbers will be released on Thursday.

$^SSMI$DESN.SW$UBSG.SWSDZ.SW
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European Equities Traded in the US as American Depositary Receipts Rise in Friday Trading; Flat for Week

European equities traded in the US as American depositary receipts were rising late Friday morning, up 0.61% to 1,880.61 on the S&P Europe Select ADR Index, which is nearly flat for the week so far.From continental Europe, the gainers were led by medical device maker EDAP TMS (EDAP) and biotech firm BioNTech (BNTX), which rose 4.3% and 3% respectively. They were followed by software company SAP (SAP) and internet advertising firm Criteo (CRTO), which were up 2% and 0.4% respectively.The decliners from continental Europe were led by pharmaceutical company Ascendis Pharma (ASND) and telecommunications company Nokia (NOK), which fell 7.3% and 3% respectively. They were followed by accommodations booking site trivago (TRVG) and biopharmaceutical company Cellectis (CLLS), which were off 0.9% and 0.8% respectively.The gainers from the UK were led by biopharmaceutical company Biodexa Pharmaceuticals (BDRX) and communications company WPP (WPP), which advanced 2.4% and 1.1% respectively. They were followed by lenders Barclays (BCS) and HSBC (HSBC), which increased 1% and 0.9% respectively.The decliners from the UK and Ireland were led by biopharmaceutical companies Mereo BioPharma Group (MREO) and NuCana (NCNA), which dropped 6.6% and 4.4% respectively. They were followed by pharmaceutical company Silence Therapeutics (SLN) and tobacco company British American Tobacco (BTI), which lost 3.5% and 1.8% respectively.

$ASND$BCS$BDRX$BNTX$BTI$CLLS$CRTO$EDAP$HSBC$MREO$NCNA$NOK$SAP$SLN$TRVG$WPP