Europe open: Shares fall as hopes of Iran peace talks wane

26th Mar 2026 08:17

(Sharecast News) - European shares opened lower on Thursday as uncertainty over the status of an Iran war ceasefire proposal dampened sentiment.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.92% to 582 at 0831 GMT with all major bourses lower.

US President Donald Trump insisted Iran was still interested in a peace deal after Tehran rejected his as-yet-unseen 15-point plan as "extremely unreasonable".

Brent crude rose 3% to $105 a barrel on the news.

"Interestingly, equity investors bought into the US 15-point peace plan and hardly reacted to Iran's rejection said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"Donald Trump insists that peace negotiations are ongoing, describing developments in the Middle East as "big", but he is no longer controlling the narrative."

"One of Iran's senior military figures mocked the US, saying: 'Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?' This reflects where we stand in negotiations."

In economic news, German consumer sentiment is set to worsen next month due to the war in Iran, with rising energy prices fuelling inflationary fears among households, according to a survey published on Thursday.

The consumer sentiment index, published by the GfK market research institute and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions, fell 3.2 points to -28.0 for April.

On the equities front, shares in Boliden slumped after the Swedish miner on Wednesday said it expected a hit first quarter profits after production was impacted at its Garpenberg mine due to abnormally high seismic activity earlier this month.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com