FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Following mid-week relief gains, the European equity market is seeing a lack of follow-through buying this Thursday. With oil prices on the rise again, investors are adopting a more defensive stance: broker IG sees the DAX opening 0.8 percent lower at 23,880 points, roughly two and a half hours before the Xetra start.
Following Israel's devastating airstrikes in Lebanon, Iran is threatening to scrap the ceasefire recently brokered with the U.S. The United States must choose - "either a ceasefire or the continuation of the war via Israel. They cannot have both," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on the X platform.
The previous day, the German benchmark index had surged as high as 24,163 points following the agreed ceasefire in the Iran conflict. However, it stalled in the vicinity of several long-term technical trend indicators - the simple 200-day moving average as well as the 100-day and 50-day lines.
Oil prices remain the primary barometer for inflation and economic concerns in the market, and thus for investor risk appetite. The price of a barrel (159 liters) of North Sea Brent had slumped to its lowest level since mid-March the previous day, hitting nearly 90 dollars. Brent crude is now trading back around 97 dollars./ag/jha/
