By Sinéad Carew and Amanda Cooper
NEW YORK/LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) – Stocks inched higher while the dollar was little changed on Monday as investors awaited a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, while oil prices rose as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appeared to stall.
Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal for peace talks to end the war in the Middle East, saying Tehran’s demands were “totally unacceptable.”
Iranian media reported that the plan stressed the need for an end to the war on all fronts and lifting of sanctions on Tehran, along with reparations and recognition of Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy conduit.
The Middle East is expected to be a key part of the agenda later this week in Trump and Xi’s first face-to-face talks in more than six months, said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, adding that investors were cautiously waiting for the meeting.
“It’s all about the strait and when it’s going to open,” said Wren. “There’s some optimism that China will have some influence in resolving the strait issue.”
On Wall Street at 10:58 a.m. ET (1458 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.37 points, or 0.05%, to 49,632.29, the S&P 500 rose 19.63 points, or 0.27%, to 7,418.56 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 45.81 points, or 0.18%, to 26,293.54.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.23 points, or 0.29%, to 1,108.86.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.05%.
In currencies, the dollar retreated from earlier highs after Trump’s rebuff of Iran’s response kept concerns about an extended war intact.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.11% to 97.90, with the euro down 0.04% at $1.178.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.22% to 156.99.
Sterling strengthened 0.03% to $1.3636 as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempted to quell a rebellion within his…
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