Seoul Gazette - Stocks rise, oil eases after Trump evokes Iran deal

Wall Street indexes opened higher, following a rebound on Asian and European equity markets following the rout among AI stocks last week.

Those losses were sparked by strong US jobs data that raised the prospect of higher US interest rates to curb inflation, which would raise borrowing costs for AI firms planning massive spending on chips and data centres.

"Investors remain cautious after the sharp selloff at the start of the week," said Anna Macdonald, investment strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"The mood is one of tentative stabilisation rather than outright confidence, with attention still firmly on the outlook for AI valuations and interest rate expectations," she said.

But OpenAI's announcement that it had applied for an IPO of its shares -- just as Elon Musk's SpaceX is prepping a record-smashing share sale this week -- bolstered hopes that the technology would eventually start generating commensurate profits.

"The IPOs of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI are less about buying into a business and more about buying into an idea," said Katherine Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB.

But an AI update to Apple's Siri voice assistant unveiled Monday garnered lacklustre reviews, spurring caution among investors who have seen tech valuations push equity markets into record territory.

- Peace deal hopes -

Nonetheless, bargain buying saw Seoul's Kospi index surge on Tuesday after plunging more than eight percent on Monday, tracking the pre-weekend tech sell-off on Wall Street.

European indices largely climbed in afternoon deals, though London dropped slightly partly owing to a decline in the share price of British drugs giant GSK, which announced an all-cash $10.6 billion takeover of US cancer specialist Nuvalent.

Frankfurt and Paris stock markets gained as official data showed industrial production in Europe's biggest economy Germany rose slightly in April alongside its exports.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said negotiations over a peace deal to end the Middle East war were in their final stages and a deal could come in "two or three days".

"The market has heard that before, and even though it has yet to see an actual deal, it continues to respect the possibility," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Investors are focussing next on Wednesday's release of US inflation figures, which could play a key role in the Federal Reserve's rate decision-making.

The consumer price index is expected to hit 4.2 percent, which would be the highest level in more than three years.

Such a reading would almost ensure a rate hike by the Fed in the coming months. The European Central Bank is also widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points at its meeting on Thursday to counter the surge in eurozone inflation since the Middle East war sent oil and gas prices soaring.

- Key figures at around 1345 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.7 percent at $91.70 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.0 percent at $88.54 a barrel

New York - DOW: UP 0.7 percent at 51,149.26 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 7,466.94

New York - Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 26,182.39

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,340.31

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 8,275.76 points

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.6 percent at 24,753.84

Seoul - Kospi: UP 8.2 percent at 8,096.93 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 65,416.63 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 24,565.90 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 4,010.03 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1568 from $1.1531 on Monday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3397 from $1.3341

Dollar/yen: UP at 160.27 yen from 160.21 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.33 pence from 86.44 pence

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D.Sunwoo--SG