Shares mixed, dollar gains as Iran talks teeter

By Wayne Cole and Amanda Cooper

SYDNEY/LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Stocks flatlined, portion the dollar strengthened connected Monday arsenic investors fretted that talks betwixt the United States and Iran were astatine a stalemate, leaving the captious Strait of Hormuz virtually closed, which sent ‌oil prices higher.

President Donald Trump connected Sunday rejected Iran's effect to a U.S. connection for bid talks to extremity the war, saying Tehran's ‌demands were "totally unacceptable".

Brent crude futures, which are astir 45% higher than they were earlier the U.S. and Israel began strikes connected Iran connected February 28, jumped arsenic overmuch arsenic 4.6% overnight ​and were past astatine $103 a barrel, showing a 2% summation connected the day.

The MSCI All-World scale was comparatively level connected the day, portion successful Europe, the STOXX 600 and U.S. banal futures were besides steady.

The correlation betwixt the lipid terms and the banal marketplace has turned affirmative successful the past 2 weeks, meaning that the 2 are much apt to determination successful tandem than successful other directions, which was the prevailing dynamic for astir of the warfare truthful far.

Investors are ‌able to look beyond vigor prices for the clip ⁠being, fixed the still-strong enthusiasm, successful particular, for thing tech-related, arsenic good arsenic macro data, including past week's U.S. coagulated payrolls report, showing that the planetary system is not sputtering astatine this point.

"Markets are precise bully astatine assimilating this and ⁠learning to unrecorded with things that we thought were impossible. And that's wherever we are with crude close now. But if it goes up different 50%, past that volition beryllium different trial that we person to navigate," IG main marketplace strategist Chris Beauchamp said.

"If you're looking astatine the net data, it's truly good. And were it ​not ​for the Iran situation, we would beryllium truly firing connected each cylinders, adjacent much ​so than we are. But radical are contented to judge ‌that, somehow, determination has to beryllium immoderate benignant of woody with Iran, nevertheless ugly," helium said.

An Iranian program sent to the U.S. stressed the request for an extremity to the warfare connected each fronts and the lifting of sanctions connected Tehran, on with reparations and a designation of Iran's power of the Strait, Iranian media reported.

"The struggle successful the Middle East is present entering its 11th week," said Bruce Kasman, planetary caput of economics astatine JPMorgan. "Energy prices person surged but stay astatine levels that are headwinds alternatively than expansion-ending obstacles."

"The hazard of a sharper determination rises with each week that the Strait of ‌Hormuz stays closed, and our commodities squad sees operational accent levels starting sometime successful ​June."