Leading European stock indexes grew strongly on Tuesday, as investors awaited the results of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
At the moment of writing, the FTSE 100 increased by 0.82% to 7,534.82 points, the CAC 40 jumped by 1.72% to 6,702.57 points, and the DAX rose by 1.34% to 14,609.47 points.
Investors are focused on the situation in Eastern Europe. Market players hope that talks between Russia and Ukraine would reach a consensus. Hopes for peace boosted Asian indexes, which largely closed in positive territory today.
A breakthrough at the peace talks would send European equities and the euro upwards. Oil and gold prices would likely sink.
On Monday, most European stock indexes closed in positive territory. The FTSE 100 suffered some losses due to falling oil prices worldwide.
The STOXX Europe 600 rose by 0.14% to 454.17 points.
The best performing stocks on the STOXX Europe 600 were Polymetal International PLC (+38%), InPost S.A. (+19%), and Allegro.eu SA (+4.6%).
The biggest losers of the session were Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc (-10.7%) and Sinch AB (-6.5%).
On Monday, the FTSE 100 lost 0.14%, reaching 7,473.14 points. The CAC 40 added 0.54%, closing at 6,589.11 points. The DAX gained 0.78%, rising to 14,417.37 points.
Shares of NatWest Group Plc lost 0.3%, despite the British bank announcing it would repurchase a 4.91% stake from Her Majesty's Treasury for $1.6 billion.
The market capitalization of Deutsche Bank increased by 0.1% after the German bank promoted its CFO James von Moltke to deputy CEO.
Shares of Bouygues slumped by 2.4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its outlook for the company.
BASF increased by 1.6% after HSBC upgraded the status of the German chemical company's stock.
Prospects of a breakthrough in talks between Russia and Ukraine were in focus of market players on Monday. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told Russian journalists on Sunday that Ukraine was open to discussing its neutral status with Russia.
Leading stock indexes were also boosted by falling commodity prices.
Crude oil lost 7% on Monday amid a possible fall in short-term demand for the commodity in China. Chinese authorities have enacted a lockdown in Shanghai due to a COVID-19 outbreak - the biggest lockdown in 2 years.
European energy and mining indexes decreased by 2.1% and 1.4% respectively. British Petroleum lost 2.8% and Shell decreased by 3%. Shares of ArcelorMittal and Anglo American declined by 2.7% and 2.1% respectively.
Furthermore, investors gauged potential economic growth in the eurozone. Earlier, Morgan Stanley cut its earnings growth outlook for European companies to 3% from 10% projected earlier.
S&P Global Ratings reduced its eurozone growth forecast for the year on Monday to 3.3%. Earlier, the ratings firm projected eurozone GDP to increase by 4.4%.