European shares opened trade on a higher note on Tuesday, with support from strong corporate earnings, while investors awaited key US inflation data for more clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-cut trajectory.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.4%, as of 0812 GMT, just shy of a record peak touched last week.

Oil and gas-related shares led sectoral gains with a nearly 1% jump due to higher crude prices as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continued to spur supply concerns.

Later in the day, markets will be dominated by US consumer price index (CPI) report for February, due at 1230 GMT, as it could offer insights into the timing of central bank’s first interest rate cut this year.

Tech selloff drags down European shares

In corporate updates, shares of Generali rose 1% after the Italian lender posted its best profit in 2023.

Frankfurt-listed shares of Oracle climbed 5.6% after the US company beat estimates for quarterly profit and is set to make a joint announcement with chip giant Nvidia.

Germany’s Porsche expects profitability to tick downwards in 2024 as the luxury carmaker focused on launching four new models, taking its shares down 2.1%.

The automobiles and parts index was off 0.3%.