Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 25th March 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks traded higher with risk sentiment spurred by hopes of a halt to the Iran conflict after optimistic comments from US President Trump regarding negotiations, while it was reported that the US was working on a 1-month ceasefire and offered a 15-point plan to Iran for ending the conflict. ASX 200 rallied with gains led by outperformance in mining stocks as gold producers cheered a rebound in the precious metal, while the federal and Queensland governments announced a AUD 2bln bailout for Rio Tinto's Boyne aluminium smelter. Nikkei 225 outperformed and returned to above the USD 53,000 level as Iran ceasefire hopes alleviate the recent oil and inflation-related pressures. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were positive, albeit to varying degrees throughout the day, as participants digested a slew of earnings releases, while the PBoC conducted a CNY 500bln on 1yr MLF operation.

SK Hynix (000660 KS) - Co. says HBM market is expected to remain a key driver of growth in 2026, with demand expected to expand over the mid to long term due to AI. (SK Hynix)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.08% at 5,570, Dax 40 -0.06% at 22,640, FTSE 100 +0.72% at 9,965, CAC 40 +0.23% at 7,744, FTSE MIB +0.42% at 43,370, IBEX 35 +0.13% at 16,910, PSI +1.18% at 8,882, SMI +1.04% at 12,519, AEX +0.78% at 974

SECTORS: Energy 2.72%, Telecoms 1.84%, Materials 1.73%, Utilities 1.15%, Consumer Stpl 0.70%, IT 0.66%, Healthcare 0.52%, Industrials -0.19%, Financials -0.19%, Consumer Disc -0.31%     

FTSE 100

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Rio Tinto, Australia's Queensland government, and the Commonwealth government agreed a partnership to secure the Boyne aluminium smelters future through at least 2040. The governments will invest AUD 2bln over 10 years to support the transition to competitive long-term power, alongside Rio-backed agreements underwriting AUD 7.5bln in new renewable energy and storage. (Rio Tinto)

UK Water/Energy - Nigel Farage’s Reform UK abandoned pledge to nationalise water and energy companies, according to FT. (FT)

UK Inflation - UK short-term inflation expectations rose to 5.4% (prev. 3.3%) and long-term expectations rose to 4.5% (prev. 3.6%) in March, according to Citi/YouGov. (Citi/YouGov)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Croda (CRDA LN) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Diageo (DGE LN) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas

Kingspan (KGP LN) initiated with Outperform at RBC

Shell (SHEL LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

DAX

Henkel (HEN3 GY) – CEO says it will pass on costs to customers, if manufacturing costs rise “drastically”. (Newswires)

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. is reportedly to shift production to a missile defense at one factory in a deal with an Israeli company, according to FT. (FT)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Air Liquide (AI FP) - Air Liquide unit Airgas will curtail helium shipments after Qatar halted production at a major LNG facility following an Iranian strike, Bloomberg reports. Airgas declared force majeure effective 17th March, and expects some customers to receive as little as half their normal monthly helium deliveries, while adding a USD 13.50 per 100 cubic feet surcharge. (Bloomberg)

BNP Paribas (BNP FP) – The FT writes that the Co. is looking to grow in the buyout market in Japan, creating competition for deal financing in the region. (FT)

Dassault Systemes (DSY FP) – Co. announces that the Board of Directors has decided to propose a dividend of EUR 0.27/shr for 2025, +3.8% Y/Y. (Dassault Systemes)

EssilorLuxottica (EL FP), Meta Platforms (META) - Meta’s rollout of new display-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses in the EU has been delayed by battery and AI regulations as well as supply constraints, Bloomberg said. Meta wants to launch the product in the bloc, but has been unable to secure enough supply. (Bloomberg)

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - Roughly 15% of TotalEnergies' production is offline, as the war with Iran nears the one-month mark, but surging oil prices have more than made up for the lost barrels, chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné told CNBC in an exclusive interview. (CNBC)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Vallourec (VK FP) – Co. won five OCTG contracts in Indonesia. (Vallorec)

Valeo (FR FP) - The company is investing USD 225mln over the next five years for a 337,000 square-foot facility that will create up to 500 new jobs in the region. Production will begin in late 2027. (Valeo)

BROKER MOVES

Vinci (DG FP) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Erste Group

PAN EUROPE

Grifols (GRF SM) - Grifols said its board has decided to begin evaluating a potential US IPO of a portion of the shares of the subsidiary that is the parent of its US Biopharma business. Any transaction remains subject to regulatory and legal requirements, internal approvals and market conditions, and there is no assurance an IPO will occur or be completed. (Grifols)

Geopols - US President Trump said they are having tremendous success in Iran and that Iran has no leaders left, while he said the US is talking to the right people and they want to make a deal. Trump said they are in negotiations right now with Iran and that Iran is talking sense. US President Trump said they are going to make a deal with Iran, and Iran gave the US a significant prize/present worth a tremendous amount of money, which is related to the Strait of Hormuz. Trump did not offer any more details. (Newswires)

Heineken (HEIA NA) - Heineken will scale back large-scale beer production in Singapore by 2027 and shift output to Malaysia and Vietnam as part of a regional reorganisation, Bloomberg reports. Its Singapore unit will move to an import-based supply model, while the Tuas plant will become a regional logistics hub and product development brewery. (Bloomberg)

Leonardo (LDO IM) / Leonardo DRS (DRS) - Leonardo DRS introduced THOR, a rugged, open-architecture 3U VPX embedded computing chassis designed for tactical edge use, built for combat vehicles, tactical platforms and emerging mission environments; it provides scalable processing to support AI, multi-sensor data fusion, and faster battlefield decision-making. (Leonardo)

Ryanair (RYA ID) – CEO O’Leary says, “I don't think we'll do any hedging for the next three months”, reported via the FT. (FT)

Repsol (REP SM) - Exec says the Co. plans to triple its Venezuela crude oil production to 150k BPD over the next two years. (Newswires)

UCB (UCB BB) - UCB selects Georgia for a new U.S. Biologics Manufacturing Facility; approx. USD 5bln economic impact and around 330 permanent jobs. (UCB)

BROKER MOVES

European Energy Sector – European Energy upgraded to Attractive from In-Line at Morgan Stanley

SMI

Swisscom (SCMN SW) – Fastweb and Vodafone (VOD LN) terminate Master Service Agreement with INWIT. (Swisscom)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SIG (SIGN SW) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS

SCANDINAVIA

Castellum (CAST SS) – Co. to initiate share buy-backs of a purchase amount of up to SEK 3.4bln. (Castellum)

Danish stocks - Danish PM Frederiksen's bloc won the election but lacked the majority with her left bloc winning 84 seats, while the right bloc won 77 seats, and the moderate party won 14 seats to become kingmaker, according to AFP. Furthermore, PM Frederiksen said she is ready to take on the responsibility to be PM for the next four years and had hoped for a better result, as well as stated that it won't be easy to form a new government. (Newswires)

Novo Nordisk (NOVOB DC) - Triple agonist UBT251 showed a mean HbA1c reduction of up to 2.16% after 24 weeks in phase 2 trial in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. The primary endpoint of the trial was the change in HbA from baseline after 24 weeks of treatment. (Novo Nordisk)

BROKER MOVES

Novonesis (NSIB DC) upgraded to Buy from Sell at Citi

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.37% at 6,556, NDX -0.77% at 24,002, DJI -0.18% at 46,124, RUT +0.45% at 2,505

SECTORS: Communication Services -2.50%, Real Estate -0.76%, Technology -0.71%, Consumer Discretionary -0.54%, Health +0.04%, Financials +0.05%, Consumer Staples +0.08%, Industrials +0.57%, Utilities +0.74%, Materials +1.67%, Energy +2.05%.

Disney (DIS), OpenAI - Disney is withdrawing from its deal with OpenAI after the company said it will shut the standalone Sora app, Hollywood Reporter said, citing a source; Disney will not proceed with its USD 1bln investment and character-licensing agreement tied to Sora. (Hollywood Reporter)

25 Mar 2026 - 07:00- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk