Investing.com - Recent hopes that the U.S. could help broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine could support equities in Continental Europe, according to analysts at UBS.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about ending the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, adding that both men had expressed a desire to reach a peace deal in separate phone calls.
The Kremlin said Trump and Putin had also agreed to meet, while Trump said the two would "probably" speak face-to-face soon in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, China has raised a proposal to hold a summit between Trump and Putin aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, which is now approaching its third anniversary, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.
Major hurdles likely remain to be cleared before the hostilities can be halted. Russia currently occupies around 20% of Ukrainian territory and has demanded that Kyiv cede more areas. Ukraine wants Russia to withdraw from the captured territory and is pushing to receive NATO membership or similar security guarantees in a bid to prevent Moscow from attempting to carry out another attack in the future.
In a note to clients on Thursday upgrading their outlook for European stocks, the UBS analysts said peace could lead to opportunities around the reconstruction of war-torn Ukrainian areas. Lower gas and electricity prices, as well as a subsequent dip in consumer costs, are also seen boosting companies, the analysts added.
They noted that shares in Essity (ST:ESSITYb), Schneider Electric (EPA:SCHN), and Siemens (NSE:SIEM) (ETR:SIEGn) were "cheaper and better than peer group." They also recommending buying several names that could benefit from a Ukrainian ceasefire, including budget airlines Ryanair (LON:0RYA), EasyJet (LON:EZJ), and Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ), as well as lender Erste Group (VIE:ERST), Finnish forest industry groups UPM-Kymmene (HE:UPM) and Stora Enso (HE:STERV) (OTC:SEOAY), bottler Coca Cola HBC (LON:CCH), and Polish multinational clothing firm LPP (WA:LPPP).