European Shares Hold Near Record Highs On Hormuz Reopening Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks hit new record highs on Thursday, with resilient company results, hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and solid German data helping underpin sentiment.

German factory orders increased 3.1 percent on a monthly basis in June, faster than the revised 0.3 percent rise in May and economists' forecast of 0.5 percent, according to data from Destatis.

On a yearly basis, growth in new orders accelerated to 6.5 percent from 4.5 percent in May.

On the geopolitical front, Iran said it is in the final stages of drafting an agreement with Oman on new commercial shipping arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, but denied the U.S. was involved in the negotiations.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose half a percent to 660.17 after ending marginally higher on Wednesday.

The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 surged 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent.

West-Asia focused oil & gas explorer Tullow Oil plunged 5.3 percent in London on concerns over the unchanged debt level.

Wizz Air tumbled 1 percent as the budget airline reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss.