Iran confirmed on Thursday that it was evaluating Washington's position to end the conflict, while U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he was willing to wait a few days to 'get the right answers' from Tehran, though he warned that strikes would resume if the Iranian regime rejected a deal.
Wednesday's session was specifically marked by a surge in market optimism over an imminent pact between the two countries that would clear transit through the strait. In fact, some vessels resumed passage through the waterway -- including tankers carrying six million barrels of crude -- although the situation is far from resolved.
In the technology sector, Nvidia's results exceeded expectations, boosting Asian semiconductor manufacturers. Their shares rose following news that the California-based company presented a higher-than-expected revenue forecast on Wednesday.
Furthermore, CEO Jensen Huang sought to convince investors that the world's most valuable company can sustain the extraordinary growth in demand for its artificial intelligence chips. Nevertheless, Nvidia shares fell as much as 1.3% in after-hours trading following the close of the regular session.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics surged more than 8% after the firm's union announced the suspension of its strike following a provisional wage agreement. This move averted a walkout by nearly 48,000 workers that threatened the South Korean economy and the global chip supply.
Thursday's agenda includes preliminary May PMIs, which will provide further clues on how the war in the Middle East is affecting businesses.
In its morning report, Renta 4 warned that in the eurozone and other countries, 'a deterioration in the manufacturing component should not be ruled out -- following April's positive reading, which was somewhat artificial as it incorporated front-loaded purchases in anticipation of supply issues and higher prices -- while the services component could stabilize after the previous poor data, affected by the impact of the energy shock on purchasing power.'
Regarding the United States, the brokerage added that PMIs 'should also reflect the current environment of geopolitical tensions to the downside: composite (51.7 previously), manufacturing (53.8e vs 54.5 previously), and services (51.0e vs 51 previously).'
In addition to the PMIs, analysts highlighted that the session will see the release of the European Commission's new macroeconomic forecasts, U.S. initial jobless claims, the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook for May, and, on the corporate front, results from retail giant Walmart.
After rising 2.2% the previous day, the Spanish benchmark IBEX 35 was down 44.40 points, or 0.25%, at 18,007.30 points by 0705 GMT on Thursday, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of leading European shares retreated 0.21%.
In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.43%, BBVA fell 0.46%, Caixabank advanced 0.31%, Sabadell gained 0.66%, Bankinter rose 0.07%, and Unicaja Banco edged up 0.07%.
Among large-cap non-financial stocks, Telefónica retreated 0.22%, Inditex shed 0.04%, Iberdrola dropped 0.69%, Cellnex fell 0.31%, and oil major Repsol rose 0.89%.
(Reporting by Tomás Cobos; editing by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)
