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POSITIVE START IN EUROPE

It's turned into a positive first hour or so of trading for European shares, with the STOXX 600 .STOXX up 0.2%, building on its 1.5% gain from Wednesday on Gulf peace hopes, and belying the fall futures had expected.

The broad index is set for its biggest weekly gain since early April, but there's plenty of chance for geopolitical headlines to shake that, especially given a vague sense of optimism across markets that could be dashed quickly.

And stocks aren't that concerned about PMI data showing business activity in the euro zone shrank at its sharpest rate in more than two-and-a-half years in May.

Maybe the fact such weak data would make it harder for the ECB to cut rates is helping. It sent the benchmark German 10-year yield down another 2 basis points to 3.07% its lowest in a week, with rate-sensitive two-year yields down a similar amount.

Shares of the biggest European corporate beasts aren't up to that much. The biggest gainer in percentage terms on the STOXX is British defence company QinetiQ, QQ.L, up 7% after posting strong results.

The broad tech sector in Europe met Nvidia's results and the Samsung employee deal with a bit of a shrug with the tech index up 0.3%. .SX8P

(Alun John)

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