Washington, June 3 -- Oil prices surged on Wednesday amid increasing doubts over the prospects of a breakthrough in US-Iran negotiations, while global equity markets largely rose on account of enthusiasm for artificial intelligence-related stocks.
Crude markets temporarily began gaining ground after signs that the US efforts to secure a lasting agreement with Iran seemed to be leading somewhere, though eventually retreated due to the persisting uncertainty over a breakthrough despite repeated assurances from US President Donald Trump that the two sides were moving closer to a deal.
Both major oil benchmarks rose by more than 1% during trading and are now up by roughly 5% for the week.
While oil markets reflected caution, stock investors ...