Sawt Falasteen - Stocks rise ahead of US-China summit as Iran talks stall

Oil prices steadied after a recent surge despite traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz remaining largely blocked.

The International Energy Agency has warned that countries are tapping into oil inventories and strategic reserves at a "record pace".

London and Frankfurt stocks advanced while Paris fell in midday deals.

"There is a calmer tone to markets on Wednesday," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

She added that markets were boosted by a "no news is good news" approach.

The dollar firmed, while UK government bond rates remained elevated as Keir Starmer battled to remain prime minister.

Traders are looking to China, where Trump is due to land on Wednesday after saying he expected a "long talk" with counterpart Xi Jinping about Iran.

The US president said he would ask Xi to "open up" China to American firms, adding that AI chip titan Nvidia's chief Jensen Huang was among a host of top chief executives joining the trip.

Trump's visit to Beijing comes one day after official US figures showed consumer inflation hit a three-year high in April, as the economic fallout of the Iran war rippled through the world's largest economy.

Soaring inflation could pile pressure on Trump to end the war, but he insisted that Americans' financial situation did not motivate him "even a little bit" to make a peace deal with Iran.

Iran's chief negotiator urged Washington on Tuesday to accept Tehran's latest peace plan or face failure.

Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither appears willing to return to all-out war.

- Tech stocks -

In Asian stock markets trading Wednesday, Hong Kong and Shanghai advanced.

Tokyo closed up 0.8 percent after the yield on 20-year Japanese government bonds hit the highest level since 1997.

Pressure on Japanese debt is intensifying as the Middle East war sends oil prices spiralling, fuelling speculation that the Bank of Japan will increase interest rates.

Seoul's stock market ended up 2.6 percent after the presidential Blue House distanced itself from calls for a social tax on artificial intelligence profits.

The tech-rich Kospi had plunged five percent Tuesday after a top official proposed a "national dividend" to redistribute excess corporate profits from artificial intelligence.

In China, tech behemoth Alibaba posted an 18 percent drop in net profit during its most recent fiscal year, weighed by domestic economic challenges and an expensive push into AI.

Another Chinese tech firm Tencent, however, posted a 21 percent jump in quarterly net profit as it also bets big on the AI sector.

- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $108.00 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $102.09 a barrel

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 10,274.20 points

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,949.86

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.7 percent at 24,120.72

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 63,272.11 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,388.44 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 4,242.57 (close)

New York - DOW: UP 0.1 percent at 49,760.56 points (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1715 from $1.1745 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3508 from $1.3542

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.81 from 157.57 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.73 pence from 86.70 pence

N.Awad--SF-PST