World Shares Mixed on Ceasefire Refusal05/11 05:17

   World shares were mixed Monday after Wall Street set more records, and oil 
rose more than 2% following U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of Tehran's 
response to the latest U.S. proposal on ending the war in Iran.

   HONG KONG (AP) -- World shares were mixed Monday after Wall Street set more 
records, and oil rose more than 2% following U.S. President Donald Trump's 
rejection of Tehran's response to the latest U.S. proposal on ending the war in 
Iran.

   U.S. futures edged less than 0.1% lower.

   In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 10,253.99. 
Germany's DAX fell less than 0.1% to 24,328.17, and France's CAC 40 lost 0.8% 
to 8,049.31.

   In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 62,417.88 after briefing reaching 
another record high in intraday trading at above 63,300. Technology-focused 
investment holding company SoftBank Group, one of Japan's largest stocks, fell 
more than 6%.

   South Korea's Kospi gained 4.3% to 7,822.24. It also hit an all-time 
intraday high, led by gains from tech-related stocks including Samsung 
Electronics and memory chip maker SK Hynix.

   Technology-related stocks and growing artificial intelligence-related 
interest have supported markets in Japan and South Korea despite the Iran war, 
with the Nikkei 225 and Kospi rising more than 10% and 30%, respectively, over 
the past month.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up less than 0.1% to 26,406.84. The Shanghai 
Composite index climbed 1.1% to 4,225.02, following official data Monday that 
showed China's factory gate prices rose 2.8% in April from a year ago, the 
highest since 2022, as well as better-than-expected export figures released 
over the weekend.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5%. Taiwan's Taiex traded 0.5% higher, and 
India's Sensex fell 1.7%.

   Oil prices jumped early Monday over Iran war uncertainties, after Trump 
wrote in a social media post that Iran's response on Sunday to the U.S.'s 
latest proposal was "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!"

   Brent crude, the international standard, gained 2.6% to $103.88 per barrel. 
It was roughly $70 per barrel before the war began in late February. Benchmark 
U.S. crude was 2.5% higher at $97.78 a barrel.

   With the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil and gas 
transport, still largely closed and as the U.S. is continuing its sea blockade 
of Iranian ports, analysts believe oil prices are likely to remain higher for 
longer.

   The Iran war was also set to be part of the discussion agenda when Trump 
meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week. China has close economic 
links with Iran and the U.S. has been pressing Beijing to leverage its 
influence to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

   "There remains a glimmer of hope that talks between Trump and Chinese 
President Xi later this week could yield positive results on Iran," ING 
commodities analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Monday.

   "The hope is that China can use its influence over Iran to push it closer 
towards a peace deal," they said. "Clearly, this is easier said than done." The 
oil market is still very much "heavily headline-driven," the pair added.

   On Friday, Wall Street rose to new records with the benchmark S&P 500 adding 
0.8% to 7,398.93 and reaching its latest all-time high, fueled by market 
optimism after a solid report on the U.S. job market which was better than what 
analysts had expected despite Iran war shocks.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1% to 49,609.16, while 
the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7% to its own record at 
26,247.08.

   In other dealings, the U.S. dollar climbed to 157.14 Japanese yen from 
156.61 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1766, down from $1.1780.