HONG KONG (AP) — Global shares were mixed Wednesday after Wall Street held near its record and oil prices stabilized following U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks that United States and Iranian officials had a “very good” meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
U.S. futures were little changed ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington which is kicking off Wednesday and his meeting this week with Trump.
In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 10,729.10. France's CAC 40 edged up less than 0.1% to 8,156.78, while Germany's DAX declined 0.4% to 25,490.42.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9% to 7,080.92. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1% to 24,834.12. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.4% to 3,936.52. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 8,765.30.
Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.8% higher, while India’s Sensex was up 0.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was closed on Wednesday for a holiday and will resume trading Thursday.
Oil prices stabilized and remained below $100 a barrel after Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York following his threat during an address to the annual gathering that the U.S. might “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal couldn’t be made.
“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world,” Trump said. “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”
Brent crude, the international standard, edged up less than 0.1% to $99.30 per barrel after falling earlier in the day. That was still elevated compared to the roughly $72 per barrel level from late February before the Iran war.
Diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Iran helped fuel the fall in oil prices Wednesday, ING commodities strategists Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson wrote in a commentary. They said oil prices eased also on optimism over reports that Saudi Arabia was restarting operations at a key oil pipeline.
Several major technology stocks in Asia traded higher Wednesday after U.S. technology shares gained. Samsung Electronics rose 3.3%, while South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix added 1.2%. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, were up 1.6%.
Investors have been monitoring the debate in the U.S. over whether to slow down artificial intelligence development, while AI is also expected to be high on the agenda when Trump and Xi meet.
On Tuesday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 edged down less than 0.1% and remained near its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5% and closed at a record high.
Major U.S. technology stocks climbed. Nvidia shares climbed 0.7%, while Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, rose 1.3%. Broadcom added 0.5%, and Intel gained 1.7%.
In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 157.91 Japanese yen from 157.39 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1410, down from $1.1449.
