Germany's blue-chip DAX index ended Thursday's session 0.36% higher, buoyed by increasing optimism over a potential end to the war in Iran.
Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source, that a key Pakistani mediator achieved a breakthrough on "sticky issues" between the US and Iran, while noting Iranian officials cautioned that the future of the nation's nuclear program remains unresolved. Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is in Tehran seeking to extend the Iran ceasefire after weekend talks in Islamabad failed to yield a deal. And while both sides remain open to further negotiations, a timeline has not yet been established, the news outlet added.
On the economic front, inflation in the eurozone accelerated in March. According to final data from Eurostat, the euro area's annual inflation rate rose to 2.6% from 1.9% in February, above the flash estimate of 2.5%. Meanwhile, the core rate, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, came in at 2.3%, consistent with the preliminary reading and down from the previous 2.4%.
For the month, services were cited as the highest contributor, followed by energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, and then non-energy industrial goods.
Against this backdrop, BofA Global Research noted that euro area inflation and economic growth are more sensitive to oil price movements than the US. "Using a VAR approach, we show that the Euro area economy has a much larger sensitivity to oil prices than the US for both inflation and growth. We find the inflationary impact of a 10% oil shock to reach about 40 [basis points], with the corresponding growth impact of over 10bp. Both effects are about twice as large as for the US. We think the larger share of energy in Europe's consumption basket, as well as the region being an oil importer, explain the results. Our findings suggest that Europe will take a larger hit from the energy shock compared to the US," the research firm wrote.
In corporate news, Bayer (BAYN.F) was down 0.12%, as Deutsche Bank Research lifted the hold-rated stock's price target to 43 euros from 23 euros ahead of the German life science company's first-quarter results due on May 12.
"We forecast Q1 [organic sales growth] to increase by 3.6% YoY, driven by Crop Science, boosted by a EUR450m licensing income, offsetting a flattish performance in Pharma and modest growth in Consumer Health. ... Bayer's direct exposure to the ME is very limited, and its end markets are relatively resilient. While we anticipate growing energy & input cost headwinds for crop protection, this is relatively small as a % of group and energy is well hedged," Deutsche Bank said.
Meanwhile, the German cartel office authorized defense company Rheinmetall's (RHM.F) subsidiary, Rheinmetall Digital, and space technology group OHB (OHB.F) to form a joint venture focused on pursuing a future procurement contract for the German armed forces. Rheinmetall fell 1.20%, while OHB gained 3.97%.