The National Times - Tech stocks rally rolls on as US-China talks underway

US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met for a closely watched summit that covered thorny issues including Taiwan, but yielded few concrete outcomes in its opening phase.

Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce, which the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, though a deal is far from certain.

China's controls on rare earth and agriculture exports are also expected to be on the menu.

Wall Street's leading indices opened higher, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite climbing from record closes set on AI bullishness.

"This positive bias is rooted in the positive disposition of many tech stocks, namely Cisco, which is up 15 percent in pre-market trading -- a move that is responsible for the outperformance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare wrote before the start of trading.

Cisco shares rose nearly 16 percent as the cash market opened, buoyed by stronger-than-expected quarterly results and forecasts for the current quarter.

Shares in the so-called magnificent seven tech stocks -- Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla -- climbed two percent Wednesday and rose another 0.2 percent as trading got underway on Thursday.

Accompanying Trump is a US delegation including high-powered business leaders such as Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Apple's Tim Cook and Tesla's Elon Musk.

"China's doors to the outside world will open wider and wider... American companies will enjoy even brighter prospects in China," Xi told the business executives, according to Chinese state media.

Analysts said the presence of top executives underscored the deep economic interdependence between the two nations despite years of tensions and talk of decoupling.

Trump praised talks with Xi as "extremely positive and productive" and invited him to visit the White House in September.

European equities rose in afternoon trading, with London edging up 0.3 percent after data showed the UK economy had a solid start to the year, though the Middle East war and political turmoil threatened to cloud the outlook.

Frankfurt advanched more than one percent and Paris gained 0.7 percent, lifted by tech stocks.

"The UK index has been weighed down by its lack of tech, which is driving a global stock market rally," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

"Politics and a recalibration of interest rate expectations are both failing to dampen the market mood," Brooks said. "The question now is, how long can it last?"

The meeting in Beijing took place against the backdrop of conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and driven energy prices higher.

International benchmark Brent crude slid to around $105 a barrel on Thursday while traffic through the crucial strait remained largely blocked.

Across Asia, Shanghai and Tokyo slid while Hong Kong was flat.

- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at 105.02 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.5 percent at 100.55 a barrel

New York - DOW: UP 0.8 percent at 50,083.80 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 7,465.28

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 26,443.56

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 10,360.30

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,067.52

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.1 percent at 24,391.39

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 62,654.05 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,389.04 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 1.5 percent at 4,177.92 (close)

Pound/dollar: DOWN at 1.3501 from $1.3522 on Wednesday

Euro/pound: UNCHANGED at 86.59 pence

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1695 from $1.1714

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.98 yen from 157.87 yen

L.Johnson--TNT