London (AFP) – Stock markets fell on Wednesday and oil prices rose as investors weighed the chances of a deal to end the Mideast war, after US President Donald Trump said US and Iranian representatives held “very good” talks at the United Nations. Trump added that a three-hour meeting Tuesday was “very productive” and that the two countries “have another one scheduled in the very near future”.
Hopes for a deal to get Gulf oil and gas flowing freely through the Strait of Hormuz as global leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly in New York had sent oil prices down sharply since last week. However, in the absence of further developments, Brent North crude, the international benchmark, climbed almost 2 percent back above $100 per barrel on Wednesday.
Stocks opened lower on Wall Street after the Nasdaq hit an all-time high on Tuesday on enthusiasm for all things AI, while most European and Asian indices also pulled back. Stephen Innes at Quintex Intel noted that the UN meeting matters “because it shifts the market from pure (war) escalation pricing toward a genuine diplomatic process, even if a final deal still looks distant”.
The OECD on Wednesday said that global economic growth had been “resilient” in many countries despite the war, as it slightly raised its economic output forecasts for 2026. Oil prices had earlier fallen on a report that the world’s biggest crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, had rebooted operations along its East-West Pipeline — a crucial oil export route shut down by drone attacks. The kingdom is aiming to resume exports later this week, Bloomberg quoted a source as saying.
But while Saudi oil giant Aramco reportedly told Asian refiners they could soon pick up crude from the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the firm told their European counterparts they would not be allocated oil in October, Bloomberg said.
– AI rally resumes –
Earlier in Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down one percent, shrugging off an announcement by Chinese tech giant Alibaba that it would expand its overseas data centres. Shanghai lost 0.4 percent. The firm, one of the frontrunners in China’s AI industry, said the move would target markets across Europe and the Middle East. Alibaba’s announcement follows a renewed burst of confidence in artificial intelligence this week, with Anthropic and OpenAI releasing new, cheaper AI models within hours of each other. Anthropic’s release comes a few weeks before its expected stock market debut, while OpenAI has delayed its IPO plans until next year.
South Korea’s tech-rich Kospi and Taiwan’s Taiex index — home to chipmaking titan TSMC — gained nearly one percent.
– Key figures at around 1445 GMT –
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.8 percent at $101.08 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.2 percent at $91.64 per barrel
New York – DOW: DOWN 0.3 percent at 51,685.81 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,741.74
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 27,131.76
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 10,714.54
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 8,118.61
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 25,449.67
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 percent at 24,834.12 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,936.52 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: closed for a holiday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1403 from $1.1451 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3268 from $1.3344
Dollar/yen: UP at 158.08 from 157.37
Euro/pound: UP at 85.95 pence from 85.81 pence
© 2024 AFP
