The China Mail - Stocks up, oil retreats as Trump rules out pre-vote Iran attack

Trump said Washington was holding "productive discussions" with Tehran after reports that the White House had asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a possible attack ahead of the November 3 vote.

It was suggested that a show of strength might help struggling Republicans' chances at the polls.

Following the reports and before Trump's reaction, the main international crude contract Brent North Sea had rallied more than five percent on Thursday.

"The trajectory of the Middle East crisis remains highly uncertain, with Brent crude still trading around $103" per barrel despite Friday's losses, noted Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club.

A separate major concern emerged over the technology sector.

The Financial Times reported that OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, expected to make $50 billion in annualised revenue this year, below the $70 billion flagged.

That spooked tech stocks, even if Bloomberg later cited unnamed sources as saying the firm expected to hit the original estimate.

Chris Weston at Pepperstone said "the discrepancy may reflect differences in revenue measurement rather than an outright deterioration in OpenAI's underlying business".

Still, "in a market where valuations are increasingly dependent on ambitious revenue and cash flow projections, the headlines have been enough to trigger a meaningful one-day repositioning", he added.

Wall Street's Nasdaq ended down more than one percent Thursday, with Nvidia down nearly three percent, while Microsoft, AMD and Amazon among others sharply lower.

But Asia mostly closed higher Friday as early selling was pared back.

Europe's main stock markets later posted solid gains in midday deals, while US futures traded higher.

"The big test comes as earnings season gets going over the next few weeks, when the companies writing the biggest checks for AI tell us whether they're still prepared to keep writing them," said Josh Gilbert at traders eToro.

Elsewhere, EU finance ministers struck a deal Friday to establish a new, more powerful European securities watchdog as part of the bloc's efforts to unify financial markets.

The agreement announced in Luxembourg gives enhanced powers to the Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which will supervise major players.

Today it has only a coordinating role since national regulators supervise.

But the Frankfurt Stock Exchange operator Deutsche Boerse will be excluded from the body's supervisory scope after Germany sought a carve-out, a diplomat told AFP.

- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 10,514.99 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,767.59

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 25,025.48

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 68,030.92 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.8 percent at 24,211.35 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,813.79 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 51,231.64 (close)

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.2 percent at $103.08 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.7 percent at $90.84 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1209 from $1.1213 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3233 from $1.3228

Dollar/yen: UP at 158.30 yen from 157.92 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.70 pence from 84.77 pence

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