Sept. 23 (Reuters) - European equities rose on Wednesday as oil prices fell for a sixth straight session, while a fresh wave of AI optimism lifted tech stocks globally.
Sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and may have already resumed exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
US President Donald Trump also said talks with Iran in New York had made progress, but then threatened to "annihilate" the country if a deal was not reached.
"We're probably nearing a point where it's in both sides' best interests to de-escalate the conflict and find a way to move forward," said Brock Weimer, analyst, investment strategy, at Edward Jones.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the UN General Assembly later on Wednesday and markets are alert to reports he might hold talks with Trump.
A sustained resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz would be crucial to keeping inflation in check, which in turn will impact the global interest rate outlook. However, caution persists as similar optimism has unravelled quickly in the past.
"We've been through a series of starts and stops like this," said Cole Smead, CEO and portfolio manager at Smead Capital Management.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.17% to 643.86 points, while Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 0.40% to $98.83 per barrel.
On Wall Street, futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 EScv1 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 NQcv1 were up 0.10% and 0.03%, respectively.
An MSCI index of global stocks .MIWD00000PUS was steady after four consecutive days of gains.
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