- Lawyers of women alleging Al-Fayed sex abuse receive over 150 new enquiries
- President Museveni's son backs Ugandan strongman for 7th term
- Norris quickest as Verstappen bounces back in Singapore practice
- Wallabies lament All Blacks' fast start
- Germany's Oktoberfest opens under tight security after attacks
- Environmental protesters block French cruise liner port
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli strike kills top commanders
- No place like home: Biden hosts 'Quad' leaders
- One dead, 7 missing as heavy rains trigger floods in central Japan
- Zelensky says no UK, US go-ahead to use long-range missiles
- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Stock markets mostly fall after Fed-fueled rally
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Gurbaz, birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-run rout of South Africa
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
Twitter shares take wing, oil prices rebound
Stock markets were subdued on Monday while oil prices rose as investors tracked Russia's war with Ukraine, but Twitter stood out as its shares soared after Elon Musk purchased a major stake in the social network.
Twitter's stock soared by more than 25 percent in pre-market trade after news of the Tesla boss's investment.
It jumped 24 percent as the markets opened.
According to a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk acquired nearly 73.5 million Twitter shares -- a 9.2-percent stake in the company.
While Twitter is not large enough in terms of capitalisation to impact the wider market, market analyst Patrick O'Hare said the move has bolstered sentiment.
"What the market is really responding to is the timing of Musk's purchase and the supposition that it is an encouraging signal that longer-term investment opportunities might be availing themselves now in former high-flying stocks," he said.
Richard Hunter, at Interactive Investor, said other major stock markets "continued their cautious grind higher, as investors took solace from a US economy which is showing increasing signs of being able to withstand the likely onslaught of interest rate rises to come."
The world's top economy added 431,000 jobs in March while the US unemployment rate fell to just slightly above pre-pandemic levels, official data showed Friday.
Economists viewed the figures as reinforcing the Federal Reserve's commitment to forcefully raising interest rates, perhaps by half a percentage point at its meeting next month, which would be double the increase it announced when it began hiking in March.
Craig Erlam, analyst at OANDA, said European markets were "treading water" as EU officials weigh new sanctions on Moscow in response to alleged atrocities against Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces.
"Pressure is ramping up on Brussels to enforce a total ban on Russian energy imports in order to enforce real damage and punishment against the Kremlin for the invasion," Erlam said, noting that Germany and other countries reliant on Russian gas would likely continue to resist such a move.
Oil prices rebounded after falling following the 31-nation International Energy Agency on Friday agreeing to tap its vast reserves to offset the removal of Russian exports.
Tight supply concerns, notably owing to the invasion of Ukraine by major crude producer Russia, have triggered surges in prices recently.
"Oil prices remain high but they're certainly at more sustainable and less economically threatening levels," Erlam said.
There was some cheer, however, from news of a 60-day ceasefire in Yemen's six-year civil war that has seen several attacks on Saudi facilities, in turn hitting output from the world's biggest oil producer.
- Sri Lanka crisis -
Elsewhere, Turkey's lira held against the dollar and euro after official data showed the country's inflation had soared to a fresh record high.
In Sri Lanka, trading was halted on the stock exchange seconds after opening as the island nation's president offered to share power with the opposition.
Protests demanding the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa grew over unprecedented food and fuel shortages along with record inflation and crippling power cuts in the South Asian country.
Sri Lanka's stock market slid more than the five percent in value -- the threshold needed to trigger an automatic stop.
- Key figures around 1330 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 7,557.11 points
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 at 14,460.27
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 6,696.56
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.2 percent at 3,926.56
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 34,719.13
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 27,736.47 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.1 percent at 22,502.31 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday
Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.6 percent at $107.13 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.4 percent at $102.62 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0991 from $1.1049 late Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3104 from $1.3118
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.65 pence from 84.24 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 122.71 yen from 122.49 yen
burs/rl/lth
G.Schulte--BTB