Stocks inch up as oil weighed by supply while earnings loom

By Wayne Cole and Harry Robertson

SYDNEY/LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - European stocks and U.S. futures ticked higher connected Monday arsenic the imaginable for accrued vigor supplies pulled down lipid prices and promised alleviation from inflationary pressures, portion investors awaited ‌a important net play for the AI sector.

While determination were nary caller developments successful the fractious U.S.-Iran bid talks, ships ‌are passing done the Strait of Hormuz, with 160 vessels reported transiting from Monday to Saturday past week.

OPEC+ besides agreed to a further summation successful output targets ​by 188,000 barrels per time from August. Brent crude fell 1.4% to adjacent four-month lows astatine $71.10 a barrel.

Europe's STOXX 600 roseate 0.2% successful aboriginal trading portion futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.5% aft Friday's U.S. vacation break.

The U.S. benchmark scale rallied 1.8% past week, portion Europe's STOXX climbed 2.7% arsenic traders reduced their bets connected complaint hikes arsenic vigor prices cooled, though immoderate pockets of the tech assemblage - peculiarly chipmakers - struggled.

"Lower ‌oil prices should ... enactment the growth-sensitive sectors and ⁠countries which person underperformed during the past 3 months," said Mohit Kumar, main European economist astatine Jefferies.

"While we stay agelong U.S. tech, we person added to Asia and maturation delicate sectors successful caller weeks."

Investors volition ⁠be watching intimately for however artificial intelligence-related companies are faring amid immoderate fears astir a bubble successful the upcoming net season.

Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo are the large U.S. names reporting this week, though Samsung Electronics is acceptable to marque a splash connected Tuesday arsenic analysts expect an 18-fold summation ​in ​profits.

South Korea's blistery marketplace cooled a small past week but is inactive ​up 90% for the twelvemonth truthful acold arsenic AI ‌demand and choky supplies boost spot prices. The KOSPI scale eased 0.5% connected Monday, portion Japan's Nikkei was flat.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix volition motorboat a U.S. listing connected Monday to rise astir $28 billion, according to regulatory filings, successful a further trial of the AI wave's strength.

In currency markets, the dollar scale ticked up 0.1% to 101.04 aft dipping successful the aftermath of Thursday's weaker-than-expected June U.S. payrolls report.

The euro was down 0.1% astatine $1.142, conscionable supra the caller 13-month debased of $1.133.

The dollar firmed 0.5% to 162.23 yen, not acold from 40-year ‌peaks of 162.84 arsenic speculators trial Japanese authorities' resoluteness connected intervention.

U.S. President Donald ​Trump volition be a NATO gathering successful Turkey this week, portion the information calendar ​kicks disconnected with the U.S. ISM Services survey aboriginal ​on Monday.