The Japan Times - Stocks rise on AI buzz, oil prices cool

Facebook owner Meta surged 11 percent, Bloomberg reported, after its free AI agent Muse topped download charts following its release this month.

Meta said Muse -- which can book travel, send emails and make purchases -- was built for users with no technical background and is designed to work the way people already message each other.

"Meta's Muse might well be the consumer-facing manifestation of AI agents, in a way Claude Cowork and ChatGPT currently are the business-facing applications for now," MUFG economist Michael Wan said.

Tech giant Alibaba also unveiled what it hailed as China's most powerful AI chip at its annual Apsara Conference, along with plans to boost data centre capacity.

The firm, which runs some of China's biggest online shopping platforms, including Taobao, has been ploughing tens of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence.

Asian markets were mostly in the green, with South Korea's tech-rich Kospi and the Taiex in Taiwan -- home to chipmaking titan TSMC -- cooling after posting gains well above one percent in morning trading.

London, Paris and Frankfurt posted marginal losses.

Traders are also looking to Washington ahead of a summit on Thursday between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that is expected to focus on trade between the world's top two economies.

The simmering US-China trade war is a key concern. Both sides have maintained a tariff truce for nearly a year, but they have yet to secure a lasting agreement.

- AI race -

US and Chinese economic officials met in New York on Sunday for closely watched talks on trade and artificial intelligence to lay the groundwork for the meeting.

China's top trade negotiator He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed creating a communication channel for AI concerns, with warnings of an AI apocalypse hanging heavy as both countries race for technological supremacy.

Oil prices cooled after dropping around four percent on Monday after Trump signalled he would be open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who will travel to New York for the UN General Assembly this week.

Quintex Intel analyst Stephen Innes noted that the world's top crude exporter Saudi Arabia was managing to pull down crude prices by "finding ways to put oil back onto the water".

"Saudi Arabia is using its enormous logistical flexibility to work around a badly damaged export map" and has "pivoted aggressively back toward its Persian Gulf export system," Innes said.

A lightning offensive by pro-Iranian Houthis in recent weeks has seen the Yemeni fighters seize control of strategic coastal areas overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait from Saudi-backed government forces.

The gains cement the hold of Iran and its allies on the two waterways that the wider Gulf, including Riyadh, relies on to ship out its oil.

But the benchmark international contract, Brent crude, remained above the symbolic $100 mark on Tuesday.

Innes noted that "oil remains one diplomatic misstep away from rebuilding its geopolitical premium".

- Key figures at around 0815 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $96.45 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.2 percent at $101.49

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 25,087.75 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: FLAT at 3,952.13 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,718.46

Dollar/yen: UP 157.75 from 157.40 yen on Monday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1438 from $1.1466

Pound/dollar: UP $1.3347 from $1.3370

Euro/pound: UP 85.70 pence from 85.75 pence

T.Kobayashi--JT