Sawt Falasteen - Stocks diverge tracking tech, US-China talks

US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in Beijing for a closely watched summit that covered thorny issues including Taiwan, but yielded few concrete outcomes in its opening phase.

After a lacklustre session in Asia, European equities rose in midday trading.

London edged up 0.3 percent after data showed the UK economy had a solid start to the year, though the Middle East war and political turmoil threatened to cloud the outlook.

Frankfurt climbed more than one percent and Paris advanced 0.6 percent, lifted by tech stocks.

"The UK index has been weighed down by its lack of tech, which is driving a global stock market rally," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence led another tech-led rally on Wall Street on Wednesday, powering the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record highs.

"Politics and a recalibration of interest rate expectations are both failing to dampen the market mood," Brooks said. "The question now is, how long can it last?"

The meeting in Beijing took place against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and driven energy prices higher.

International benchmark Brent crude hovered around $106 a barrel on Thursday while traffic through the crucial strait remained largely blocked.

Trump praised talks with Xi as "extremely positive and productive", and invited him to visit the White House in September.

Accompanying Trump was a US delegation including high-powered business leaders such as Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla's Elon Musk.

"China's doors to the outside world will open wider and wider... American companies will enjoy even brighter prospects in China," Xi told the business executives, according to Chinese state media.

Analysts said the presence of top executives underscored the deep economic interdependence between the two nations despite years of tensions and talk of decoupling.

Across Asia, Shanghai and Tokyo slid, while Hong Kong was flat.

Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn reported a 19-percent jump in quarterly net profit, fuelled by booming demand for AI servers, and forecast strong growth in shipments this year.

But there were signs of strain elsewhere.

Japanese automaker Honda announced a $2.6 billion operating loss, its first since 1957, after a sweeping overhaul of its electric vehicle strategy in the United States, citing heavy charges and policy shifts under the Trump administration.

In London, shares in fashion label Burberry fell six percent as it warned of macroeconomic uncertainty, despite returning to profit in its latest fiscal year.

- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at 106.01 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at 101.47 a barrel

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,355.90 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 8,053.98

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.2 percent at 24,436.04

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 62,654.05 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,389.04 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.5 percent at 4,177.92 (close)

New York - DOW: DOWN 0.1 percent at 49,693.20 (close)

Pound/dollar: DOWN at 1.3510 from $1.3522 on Wednesday

Euro/pound: UP at 86.66 from 86.59

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1708 from $1.1714

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.95 yen from 157.87 yen

V.Said--SF-PST