(Updates with closing prices)

* Travel, luxury shares lead gains

* Delivery Hero edges up as Uber ( UBER ) agrees to increase stake

* Alstom slumps after pulling cash flow target

* STOXX 600 ends higher for fourth consecutive week

By Twesha Dikshit and Ragini Mathur

April 17 (Reuters) - The STOXX 600 jumped more than 1%

and notched its fourth straight weekly gain on Friday, after

Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth

of the world's energy shipments, was now open.

The vital waterway can be used by all commercial vessels for

the remainder of the truce agreed in Lebanon,

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi

said

.

Global markets rallied on the news, with Wall Street indexes

near record highs, while oil prices plunged as much as 11%.

The pan-European stock index climbed 1.6% to 626.58

points, close to levels seen before the beginning of the

conflict.

Euro zone short-dated government bond yields dropped sharply

to one-month lows, while money markets scaled back bets on

future ECB rate hikes.

Most regional bourses also moved higher, with Germany's DAX

, Spain's IBEX 35 and France's CAC 40

gaining about 2% each.

European equities have underperformed U.S. peers over the

course of the conflict, reflecting the region's high dependence

on external oil and gas supplies, with inflation worries

intensifying as oil prices soared.

"The way the market is reacting, there are signs that (the

reopening) could be something more meaningful and hopefully

sustainable, and we can move on from this to some extent," said

Ciaran Callaghan, head of European equity research at Amundi.

Travel and luxury stocks were the biggest

gainers, jumping over 4% each.

LVMH, Hermes and Gucci-owner Kering

all rose over 1.5%, after tumbling earlier in the week

on warnings that the war was impacting sales.

Airlines, hit by the sharp increase in fuel costs and lower

bookings, also recovered, with Ryanair, Lufthansa

and easyJet up between 6% and 7.5%.

The aerospace and defense index jumped 3.1%, while

euro zone banks gained 3.3%.

Energy shares slid 4.2% as oil prices plunged,

however, with heavyweights Shell and BP losing

5.6% and 7.4%, respectively. Utilities were down 1.4%.

Among other notable movers, Alstom slumped 27% after

the French train maker pulled its three-year cash flow forecast,

its second major cash warning since late 2023.

Online food ordering firm Delivery Hero gained 5.2%

after Uber ( UBER ) raised its stake in the company.

On the economic front, European Central Bank President

Christine Lagarde said the ECB needed to remain vigilant as the

war could drag euro zone growth lower and push inflation above

already increased projections.