European stocks mixed as Iran war stays in focus

European shares traded in mixed territory on Friday, as the U.S.-Iran war continues to weigh on investor sentiment.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s hints that an end to the war is in sight, plus a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon coming into effect, failed to bolster optimism in global equity markets.

By 8:48 a.m. in London (3:48 a.m. ET), the pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat, with no broad consensus movement seen among sectors and major regional bourses.

The Stoxx 600 index is currently on track for a weekly gain of around 0.3%, a notable decline in gains from the previous two weeks, which saw the index move 3.7% and 3% higher.

Overnight, U.S. President Donald Trump said at an event in Las Vegas that the war “should be ending pretty soon,” and that operations in Iran are “going along swimmingly.”

On April 1, the president said he expected the war to last another two to three weeks.

Global market sentiment was lackluster as the week drew to a close, with Asia-Pacific equity markets generally moving lower on Friday. On Wall Street, stock futures were mixed.

Oil prices fell on Friday morning, with global benchmark Brent crude futures holding below the $100 mark.

In corporate news, German airline Lufthansa said Thursday it would immediately ground dozens of planes and cut flight capacity, amid rising fuel prices. The airline’s stock was 0.3% lower on Friday morning.

Also on Thursday, budget airline easyJet‘s stock fell as elevated jet fuel prices weighed on its bookings outlook.

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson reported an earnings miss on Friday. Adjusted operating profit for the first quarter came in at 5.2 billion Swedish kronor ($570 million), slightly below the 5.4 billion kronor expected by analysts, according to Reuters.

Shares of Ericsson were last seen trading 1.4% lower.

— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this article.