The price of North Sea oil is down 0.8 percent to $87.15 per barrel. Regional efforts to accelerate peace talks between the United States and Iran are raising hopes for minor disruptions to oil and gas traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Ahead of the stock market opening, mining group Boliden has announced an agreement to buy a controlling stake in New York-listed competitor Nexa Resources, which has operations in Peru and Brazil.
Wall Street closed slightly lower on Wednesday, ahead of Nvidia's report, while the Stockholm Stock Exchange's OMXS index rose 0.2 percent on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the year, the OMXS index is up 10.0 percent.
