LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Oil prices jumped and equity markets diverged Monday as Middle East peace talks stalled and investors continued to pour into AI-linked stocks.

Crude futures won more than three percent after the United States and Iran traded strikes and Tehran again insisted that any deal must cover Israel’s escalating offensive into Lebanon.

European stock markets traded mixed after gains for main equity indices in Asia.

The dollar firmed against main rivals as focus fixed on the US-Iran conflict.

“Even though there have been (fresh) attacks from both sides, the market is holding onto the fact that… an elusive deal” can be reached, noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.

Meanwhile, “there is no reason to think that the AI theme will fade… Thus, we may continue to see outperformance of US and some Asian stocks”.

Across Asia, Seoul led the rally jumping by more than 4.0 percent, boosted by continued demand for chipmakers and firms centred on artificial intelligence.

Shares in memory chip giant Samsung Electronics surged more than 9.0 percent, while rival SK hynix rose over 2.0 percent.

“Investors continue to embrace the AI boom while assigning a higher probability to an eventual agreement between Washington and Tehran,” said independent markets analyst Stephen Innes.

“The reason is simple. Artificial intelligence remains the dominant engine of market psychology, and as long as Washington and Tehran continue to exchange draft proposals rather than missiles, investors appear willing to give diplomacy the benefit of the doubt,” he added.

Nvidia on Monday unveiled a powerful laptop chip for Windows machines, staking its claim in the market for next-generation consumer PCs integrated with artificial intelligence.

Its shares were up more than two percent in premarket trading.

Elsewhere, EasyJet’s share price jumped around 10 percent Monday after the British no-frills airline denounced as “opportunistic” a possible takeover bid from a US private equity firm.

Castlelake, which owns 2.14 percent of EasyJet, revealed late Friday that it was considering an offer for the carrier, which operates mainly across Europe.

EasyJet slammed what it called the “highly opportunistic timing” by Castlelake after falls to its share price and deeper losses after the Middle East war sent jet fuel costs rocketing.

– Key figures at around 1100 GMT –

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 3.2 percent at $94.03 a barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.7 percent at $90.60 a barrel

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,391.07 points

Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 8,194.02

Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 25,209.30

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 25,452.47

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.0 percent at 67,020.75

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 4,084.46

New York – DOW: UP 0.7 percent at 51,032.46 points (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1650 from $1.1663 on Friday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3464

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.46 yen from 159.27 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.52 pence at from 86.63 pence