Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told local media that the “US plan and proposal are still under review”, and that Tehran would convey its position to mediator Pakistan “after finalising its views”.
But Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who has taken the lead in negotiations with the US, warned Wednesday that Washington “is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country’s cohesion in order to force us to surrender”.
“We have been promised peace deals before, which have then failed to materialise, so while the market is willing to trade on the back of this deescalation, it will take further concrete steps to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz before the oil price can meaningfully fall below US$100 per barrel for Brent crude,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB.
Wall Street’s latest move higher was also prompted by strong corporate earnings.
Shares in chip-maker AMD jumped 18.6 per cent after it posted good first-quarter figures as well as a rosy outlook, helping other tech stocks.
Dow component Disney also had a good day, rising 7.5 per cent after reporting better results than expected as markets cheered CEO Josh D’Amaro’s first quarterly results since taking the top job.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Seoul’s Kospi stocks index piled on more than five per cent to pass 7,000 points for the first time.
That came on the back of an eye-watering surge by Samsung, which rocketed 14.4 per cent to hit a market capitalization above US$1 trillion thanks to huge demand for its AI chips.
Samsung is only the second Asian firm after Taiwan’s TSMC to reach the figure. Samsung’s shares have risen around 300 per cent over the past year as the artificial intelligence boom boosts South Korean growth.
