World shares are mixed and oil rises after Trump rejects Iran's response
to ceasefire proposal
[May 11, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM
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.
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A man sweeps in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's
Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 11, 2026, in Tokyo.
(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 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.
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