European stocks rose at midday on Friday as markets digested media reports of a potential peace deal between Washington and Tehran, and focused on falling oil prices.
Banking, real estate, and tech stocks led the gains, while oil stocks came under pressure.
Brent crude for nearest month futures hovered around $87 per barrel at midday, down from a high of nearly $94 per barrel on Thursday.
Investors also eyed higher U.S. futures and strong overnight gains in Asian stocks.
Additionally, it was reported that Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to begin trading on the NYSE at the Nasdaq opening, with an IPO price of $135 per share. The fundraising amount of $75 billion would be the largest IPO in history, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion after listing. The company mainly operates spacecraft and the Starlink satellite system.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1.6% at midday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Technology index rose 1.4%, while the Stoxx 600 Banks index gained 3.9%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Oil & Gas index fell 2.6%, and the Stoxx 600 Europe Food & Beverage index rose 0.8%.
The European REIT index REITE gained 1.9%.
On country benchmarks, Germany's DAX rose 1.7%, London's FTSE 100 gained 1.3%, Paris' CAC 40 rose 1.9%, and Spain's IBEX 35 gained 2.3%.
The yield on Germany's 10-year benchmark government bond fell to around 2.99%.
The Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility index fell 9.9% to 19.13, indicating lower than average volatility in European stocks over the next 30 days.
