Early market roundup: European stocks up on US-Iran deal hopes

Stock prices in London were mostly higher on Friday morning, amid hopes for an extended ceasefire between the US and Iran; meanwhile Ocado shares jumped as it announced a deal with Asda.

The FTSE 100 index opened 21.68 points, 0.2%, at 10,447.64. The FTSE 250 was up 129.66 points, 0.6%, at 23,454.58, and the AIM all-share was up 6.90 points, 0.9%, at 820.53.

The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 1,038.47, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.5% at 20,293.41, and the Cboe small companies was slightly lower at 18,759.76.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.7%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt edged 0.1% higher.

Sterling was at $1.3424 on Friday morning, down from $1.3435 at the London equities close on Thursday. Against the euro, sterling was unchanged at €1.530.

The euro was lower at $1.1637 from $1.1653. Against the yen, the dollar was a little higher at JP¥159.26 versus JP¥159.23.

US and Iranian negotiators edged toward a deal to extend their fragile ceasefire for 60 days, but the potential breakthrough was still hanging on President Donald Trump’s approval, US sources told AFP.

The US sources confirmed reporting by Axios that the two sides had agreed on a memorandum of understanding to prolong the ceasefire and launch negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Under the proposed deal, shipping through Hormuz would be unrestricted, with no tolls or harassment; Iran would remove all mines within 30 days; and the US would lift its naval blockade if commercial traffic resumes, Axios reported.

But Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing a source close to Tehran’s negotiators, said the text had not been finalised and that Pakistan would be informed if a deal was reached.

Iranian sources cited by local media said any deal would be complete only when announced by Tehran, not unilaterally by Trump.

In response, Brent crude for July delivery was trading lower at $93.67 a barrel on Friday morning from $94.57 on Thursday.

Late on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Trump was not yet ready to approve it, even though negotiations had ‘made a lot of progress.’

‘We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points,’ he added.

In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 2.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.7% lower, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.8%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney advanced 1.6%.

In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was unchanged from Thursday at 4.46%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury slimmed a little to 4.98% from 4.99%.

Back in London on the FTSE 250 index, shares in Ocado Group jumped 13% after it announced a deal to develop supermarket Asda’s online business across the UK with the Ocado Smart Platform.

Leeds-based Asda is one of the UK’s largest grocers, with total sales in 2025 of more than £21 billion, and operations across 1,100 stores nationwide.

Ocado said the focus of the partnership will be to quickly replace and upgrade Asda’s existing e-commerce infrastructure with Ocado’s platform, with the aim to go live in early 2027.

Ocado said the transaction is not expected to have a material financial impact in financial 2026, which ends November 29. It expects to turn cash flow positive during the second half of this financial year, with positive full year cash flow expected in financial 2027.

The deal is a boost for Ocado after two partners recently announced they were closing some Ocado centres.

On the FTSE 100, AstraZeneca shares were up 1.0% as it said its drug Imfinzi has been approved in the US as the first and only immunotherapy combination for patients with BCG-naive, high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

The Cambridge, England-based drugmaker said the drug, also called durvalumab, has been approved in combination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin induction and maintenance therapy in the US.

‘Today’s approval for Imfinzi brings the first immunotherapy combination regimen to patients in the US with BCG-naive, high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, an early setting that builds on the positive impact Imfinzi is already having in muscle-invasive disease,’ said Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president of the Oncology Haematology business unit.

Shares in Dunelm were down 3.3% after Deutsche Bank Research cut its rating on the stock to ’hold’ from ’buy. The price rating was lowered to 850p from 1,200p.

Similarly, Wickes shares fell 2.5%, as Deutsche Bank Research reduced its rating to ’sell’ from ’hold’. The price target fell to 165p from 235p.

On the AIM market, CelLBxHealth shares surged 39% after it signed a master services agreement with AstraZeneca.

The agreement makes it a qualified service provider to AstraZeneca, enabling it to support drug discovery and development through analytics of clinical trial samples.

‘We are delighted to enter into this master services agreement which enables AstraZeneca to access our capabilities across their development pipeline. We look forward to delivering strong and productive outcomes through this framework,’ said CEO Peter Collins.

Gold was higher at $4,519.85 an ounce early on Friday from $4,479.57 late Thursday.

Still to come on Friday’s economic calendar is German inflation data, GDP figures from Canada, plus the Chicago PMI.

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