11:57 AM EDT, 03/26/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets were tracking lower in Thursday trading as peace talks to end the US and Israel's war against Iran remain at an impasse.

The Stoxx Europe was dropping 0.9%, Germany's DAX was losing 1.2%, the FTSE 100 was also declining 1.3%, France's CAC was falling 0.5%, and the Swiss Market Index was edging 0.3% lower.

In Spain, GDP grew 0.8% in Q4, while annual GDP was 2.7%, according to the Spanish Institute of Statistics.

And in corporate news, TotalEnergies' trading arm has been on one of the biggest-ever Middle Eastern oil buying sprees this month, adding to the sharper prices of the commodity, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing traders monitoring data from Platts.

So far in March, Total has bought 69 cargoes of crude that set the Middle East's Dubai benchmark, the report said. In comparison, a total of 347 Dubai cargoes were traded during the whole of 2025, Bloomberg added. Several traders told the media outlet that the scale of Total's purchases was unprecedented and added to sharp price moves and upward pressure at a time when supply is already below normal, according to the news outlet.

TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

Shares of the French oil and gas company were up 1.6% in Paris.

UBS Group and Deutsche Bank are working on First Central Group's potential initial public offering in the UK, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Sources told Bloomberg that First Central also signed Fenchurch Advisory Partners as financial adviser for the IPO and that the offering could value First Central at nearly 1 billion British pounds ($1.33 billion). The IPO plan is not yet finalized and remains subject to changes, according to the report.

UBS Group, Deutsche Bank, and First Central Group did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' requests for comments.

Shares of UBS were declining 1.4% in Zurich, while shares of Deutsche Bank were dropping more than 2% on the DAX.

Equinor said Thursday it has completed an internal investigation into a chemical exposure incident at its Mongstad, Norway refinery in October 2025.

The company said personnel were exposed to elevated benzene levels during work on a measuring instrument, with two employees experiencing discomfort and one briefly absent from work. The investigation identified contributing factors, including inadequate respiratory protection and operational pressure during a post-maintenance ramp-up phase, Equinor said.

Shares of the Norwegian petroleum refiner were gaining 1.4% in Oslo.

Ericsson said Thursday it has signed a multi-year framework agreement with SoftBank to deploy next-generation core network solutions in Japan to modernize infrastructure and accelerate the adoption of standalone 5G.

The company said the agreement covers its dual-mode 5G core running on its cloud-native infrastructure, along with subscriber data management, policy control, and IP multimedia systems.

Ericsson said the project will help enable faster rollout of new services, while automation and cloud-based operations are expected to streamline processes and reduce costs.

Shares of the Swedish telecommunications company were edging 0.48% higher in Stockholm.

Rio Tinto said late Wednesday that it is closing its Diavik diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. The mine was in operation for 23 years and yielded 150 million carats of diamonds.

The company said closure activities are expected to extend through 2029.

Shares of the mining company were down 2% in London.