(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 23 mar - European shares closed higher, erasing earlier losses, after US president Donald Trump said he would not attack Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days following 'very good' talks with Tehran.

Trump said that the US and Iran had 'very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.' This comes after the US president over the weekend, threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Monday evening.

But Iranian state media cited the country's foreign ministry denying the existence of any talks, saying there was 'no dialogue' with Washington.

Investors mostly shrugged off a four point drop in consumer confidence. The eurozone consumer confidence gauge declined to minus 16.3 in March from minus 12.3 in February, marking one of the largest falls on record other than at the start of the pandemic and the Ukraine war.

The London FTSE 100 closed down 0.24% at 9,894.15 points, the Frankfurt DAX rose 1.22% at 22,671.67 points, the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.79% at 7,726.20 points, while in Milan the FTSE MIB added 0.81% at 43,189.80 points, and in Madrid the IBEX.

35 closed 1.15% higher at 16,906.15 points.

(RADIOCOR) 23-03-26 18:03:34 (0563) 5 NNNN