European shares near record high as lower oil prices boost sentiment

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 opened higher on Tuesday and hovered near its record high in broad-based buying, as oil prices fell after US President Donald Trump downplayed the need for military action against Iran "at this point".

The STOXX 600 index gained 0.9% to 662.54 by 0805 GMT, with benchmark indexes in Germany, France and Italy up about 1% each.

The pan-European benchmark was trading within 1% of its record high, last reached in early August on hopes for a resolution to the Middle East conflict.

Tuesday’s gains were driven by renewed expectations that easing tensions in the region could curb energy-driven inflation and reduce pressure for higher interest rates.

Brent crude fell more than 2% to $90 a barrel after Trump’s comments, boosting airlines that have been grappling with elevated fuel costs. Lufthansa gained 1.8% and Air France-KLM added 1.2%.

Among individual stocks, Infineon added 3.1% after the chipmaker forecast revenue growth of more than 20% in 2027 and a roughly five-percentage-point increase in profitability, driven by demand from data centres, power infrastructure and software-defined vehicles.

Potash producer K+S added 2.3% after beating third-quarter earnings expectations.