Seoul Gazette - Oil rises, stocks mostly higher on US-Iran deadlock

Following a soft start Wall Street's three main indices pushed higher during the morning session as equity traders continued to shrug off the war.

In Europe, London and Frankfurt rose while Paris fell, pulled down by luxury shares following an analyst report that warned of weak growth opportunities for the sector.

The stalemate between the United States and Iran dashed investors' hopes of an imminent peace deal and heightened concerns over further violence and disruptions to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump described Tehran's response to the latest US outline for peace talks as "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE" in a social media post.

Iran said it had demanded the release of its frozen assets and the end of a US blockade of its ports.

Oil prices spiked more than four percent following the exchange, before easing.

"The price of oil remains highly reactive to news around the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, both positive and negative," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

"Signs that tankers are getting through the Strait, even if it is a trickle, could weigh on the oil price in the coming days," she added.

But Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said Monday's gains were a "token response" compared to the 10-percent drop when the peace proposal was announced.

"There is a dose of concern, then, that the Iran situation could take a turn for the worse, but frankly there isn't any real fear that it will," he said.

O'Hare also noted that traders see Trump as unlikely to aggravate the oil supply situation ahead of his summit meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week.

Beijing has said it is ready to work with Washington in pursuit of "more stability" as the two countries remain at odds over key issues including trade tariffs, the Middle East war and Taiwan.

In Asia, Tokyo stocks fell, Hong Kong was little changed and Shanghai jumped more than one percent, while Seoul climbed around four percent, supported by a rally in tech stocks.

A tech-led surge driven by strong quarterly earnings and optimism about artificial intelligence has pushed several markets to record highs despite the Mideast crisis.

In Tokyo, Nintendo shares plunged almost 10 percent after the Japanese gaming giant warned Friday of lower profits this year and said it would raise the price of its Switch 2 console.

UK government bond yields rose only slightly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to prove his "doubters" wrong in a speech seeking to quell a growing threat to his leadership following disastrous local election results.

"The relatively mild reaction in the bond market... suggests that traders do not believe that the threat to Keir Starmer will materialise," Brooks said.

- Key figures at around 1530 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 2.4 percent at $103.68 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.1 percent at $97.44 a barrel

New York - DOW: UP 0.1 percent at 49,658.03 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 7,422.19

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 26,332.64

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 10,269.43 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.7 percent at 8,056.38 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP less than 0.1 percent at 24,350.28 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 62,417.88 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 26,406.84 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.1 percent at 4,225.02 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1783 from $1.1779 on Friday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3648 from $1.3625

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.02 from 156.76 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.35 pence from 86.45 pence

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K.Im--SG