Sawt Falasteen - Mixed day for global stocks as Saudi announcement lifts oil prices

After an initial surge on the Saudi announcement, crude prices moderated somewhat as the day progressed.

The 23-nation OPEC+ alliance, which includes Russia, had agreed Sunday to continue current output cuts until the end of next year.

But influential player Saudi Arabia also announced its own new cutback taking July production to nine million barrels per day, in a move that initially gave crude a jolt.

"The Saudis are basically giving up market share here and that strategy won't work over the long-term," said Oanda's Edward Moya.

"The risk of more cuts seems unlikely given the market reaction," Moya said. "Oil might remain stuck in a trading range until we see evidence that China's recovery is improving."

Sentiment remained largely buoyant after the United States clinched a breakthrough deal late last week to suspend its debt limit temporarily and avert a disastrous default.

Asian equities mostly rose, with Tokyo piling on more than two percent to hit a three-decade peak, but European stock markets fell.

Back in New York, major indices pulled back from last week's peaks.

Analysts cited profit taking as a factor in the market after last week's debt ceiling agreement sparked a rally.

Stocks on Friday were also supported by solid US labor data.

But a key economic indicator released Monday -- a survey reflecting services industry activity in May -- showed the slowest growth since December.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent.

"The major indices ultimately settled near their worst levels of the day," said Briefing.com. "Still, there wasn't any concerted selling interest and index losses were relatively modest."

Among individual companies, Apple shed 0.8 percent after unveiling its first-ever virtual reality headset. The headset will focus on gaming, streaming video and conferencing, as well as health and fitness.

The release puts Apple on a collision course with Facebook owner Meta, which had taken a head start on doubling down on virtual worlds, sometimes referred to as the metaverse.

- Key figures around 2030 GMT -

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.8 percent at $76.71 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $72.15 per barrel

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.6 at 33,562.86 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,273.79 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.1 percent at 13,229.43 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,599.99 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 15,963.89 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.0 percent at 7,200.91 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.7 at 4,293.24 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 32,217.43 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.8 percent at 19,108.50 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,232.44 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0714 from $1.0708 on Friday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 139.54 yen from 139.92 yen

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2431 from $1.2453

Euro/pound: UP at 86.15 pence from 85.98 pence

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Q.Jaber--SF-PST