The European stock markets were tracking higher in Thursday trading following media reports that China and the US have agreed that Iran can't have nuclear weapons or control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Stoxx Europe was rising 0.7%, Germany's DAX was climbing 1.3%, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5%, France's CAC was increasing 0.9%, and the Swiss Market Index was advancing 0.7%.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also told the chief executives of Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, and other large companies that China will "open wider" to doing business, according to media reports.
The news buoyed European tech stocks as semiconductor companies Infineon and STMicroelectronics were climbing 7% and 6% respectively in Paris and Frankfurt, while ASML was up close to 3% in Amsterdam. Software firms SAP and Dassault Systemes were gaining 3.5% and 2.5% on the DAX and CAC respectively.
UK real gross domestic product expanded an estimated 0.6% in Q1, following revised growth of 0.2% in Q4 of 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics. The GDP for Europe's second-largest economy grew 0.3% in March, 0.4% in February, and was stagnant in January.
In corporate news, Telefonica reported Q1 adjusted earnings from continuing operations Thursday of 0.07 euro ($0.07) per share, down from 0.10 euro a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was 8.13 billion euros, up from 8.09 billion euros a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 8.15 billion euros.
Shares of the Spanish telecommunications operator were surging close to 7% in Madrid.
AstraZeneca said Thursday that a combination of its Imfinzi drug and enfortumab vedotin showed significant improvements in event-free and overall survival rates in a phase 3 muscle-invasive bladder cancer trial.
The mid-term analysis of the study focused on patients who were unable to receive or declined standard cisplatin chemotherapy by itself, the company said.
Shares of the British pharmaceutical company were little changed in London, edging 0.1% higher.