MARKETS: Asian stock markets rise – oil fell

Asian markets have mainly seen an increase. In Japan and Taiwan, an increase was seen especially with semiconductor stocks and stocks related to artificial intelligence. In Japan and Taiwan, the rise has been brisk.

At the time of review, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 1.9 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.2 percent, Taiwan’s Taiex was up 2.9 percent and South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.6 percent.

Shares of companies belonging to the LG group rose after news that the company’s executives would visit Nvidia’s headquarters on Monday to discuss collaboration in physical AI and robotics.

There has been “encouraging progress” in the first round of Iran-US peace talks, according to peace brokers Qatar and Pakistan. The goal is to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

“The Asian market is moving ahead of the agreement, not waiting for the agreement,” said Hebe Chen, Vantage Global Priming senior market analyst for Bloomberg.

“The US-Iran roadmap remains tentative, but investors see it as a step toward lower oil risk, less inflationary pressure and a clearer path back to growth and tech stocks,” he told Bloomberg.

Oil went down. Brent crude fell 1.9 percent to $79.

In currencies, the dollar strengthened against most currencies. The euro weakened against the dollar.

At the time of review, one euro equaled 1.1456 dollars, 185.22 yen, 0.86725 pounds or 10.990 Swedish kronor.

European stock market futures predict a bearish opening. Eurostoxx 600 futures were down 0.1 percent.