European markets open to close: Oil, stocks, interest rates

European markets closed lower on Friday as investors continued to monitor escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended down 0.1%, will many sectors in the red. Technology led the losses, down 1.7%.

— April Roach

The Dow was up as Friday’s trading session kicked off.

The blue-chip index added about 0.2% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was near flat, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3%.

— Alex Harring

Viktor Shvets of Macquarie Capital says “risk is everywhere”, and policymakers and central banks will look through risks and supply side disruptions.

Bitcoin rose above $64,000 on Friday, rebounding from a drop below the $60,000 mark, as the cryptocurrency continues to experience volatility ahead of the upcoming halving event.

The price of bitcoin was $64,949.68 at around 12:34 p.m. in London, according to Coin Metrics data, after falling below the $60,000 threshold late Thursday.

The volatile trade comes ahead of the upcoming halving, which is slated to take place this week. This is when the rewards for bitcoin miners are slashed in half. Halving happens every four years and is written in the code of bitcoin. The result is a slowing supply of bitcoin into the market.

In prior bitcoin cycles, the halving preceded a bull run for the cryptocurrency.

Read more here.

— Arjun Kharpal

At the bottom of the index, market research firm Ipsos dropped 6.7% on the back of its own first-quarter results. Revenue was higher overall, but fell regionally by 3.2% in the Americas, the business’ second-biggest market.

— Jenni Reid

U.K. retail sales growth stalled in March, figures published by the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.

Sales volumes were flat month-on-month, following 0.1% growth in February. Volumes in food stores fell 0.7% while non-store retail sales, which includes online shops, stalls and markets, declined 1.5%.

Alex Kerr, assistant economist at Capital Economics, said that although the monthly reading was worse than forecast, sales volumes still rose by 1.9% quarter-on-quarter over the first three months of the year, “bringing the retail recession to an end.”

“As inflation falls, we still think rising real household incomes will support retail activity throughout 2024,” Kerr added.

— Jenni Reid

European stock markets opened in the red on Friday, with the Stoxx 600 index down by 0.8% at 8:30 a.m. in London.

Major bourses were lower, with Germany’s DAX down 1.1%, France’s CAC 40 down 0.86% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 down 0.6%.

Safe haven assets rose following reports of unconfirmed explosions in Iran, with the country’s Fars news agency reportedly saying that explosions were heard near the airport at the country’s central Isfahan city, but the reason was unknown.

Spot gold prices surged to a fresh all-time high of 2,411.09 per ounce, while the yen strengthened 0.45% to 153.93 against the U.S. dollar.

Prices of bitcoin fell 1.44% to $60,186, according to Coin Metrics data.

— Lim Hui Jie

Oil prices jumped more than 3% after unconfirmed reports of explosions near the Iranian city of Isfahan.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that explosions were heard near the Isfahan airport, but emphasized that the reason was unknown.

Global benchmark Brent traded 2.86% higher at $89.60 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 2.83% to $85.05 per barrel.

—Lee Ying Shan

The European Central Bank should cut interest rates in June to avoid falling behind the inflation curve, according to policymaker François Villeroy de Galhau.

“The question is the next Governing Council which will be early June … and here barring a major surprise we should cut rates because we are now confident enough and increasingly confident about the disinflationary path in the euro area,” Bank of France Governor Villeroy told CNBC’s Karen Tso on Thursday.

Read more here.

— Sam Meredith