NEW YORK, Oct 21 — Wall Street stocks mostly rose yesterday, greeting a pullback in oil prices as investors steered funds towards industrial equities amid lingering caution over artificial intelligence shares.

Comments from Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari describing US-Iran talks as “ongoing” pressured crude prices, despite no concrete changes in a conflict that has dented energy supplies for more than seven months.

Saudi Arabia on Monday postponed a major investment conference due to repeated attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

International benchmark Brent oil futures finished down 0.7 per cent at US$108.79 (RM443.86) a barrel after earlier hitting US$111.99 a barrel.

Wall Street stocks began meekly following losing sessions in leading European and Asian markets. But US equities picked up momentum as the day progressed, especially the blue-chip Dow index led by strong results from industrial company 3M.

A more than one per cent rise in the Dow showed a “rotation” from tech shares, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

“We still have some lingering softness in the tech trade and specifically the AI space so we’re not getting a completely broad market rally,” O’Hare said.

“But a lot of stocks outside the tech sector are doing reasonably well today with oil prices having come down and entry trades remaining relatively well behaved.”

Tech shares have lately been volatile, with analysts pointing to worries over AI profitability and the hefty debt financing of some companies.

The sector is also vulnerable after having outperformed the market for much of 2026.

“There’s some nervousness that perhaps the growth rates won’t be as strong as people have assumed which is to say you could have really good news but it just might not be good enough to satisfy high expectations,” O’Hare said.

Earlier, AI worries hit Asian exchanges.

Seoul and Tokyo again bore the brunt of the selling as chip giants SK hynix, Samsung and Kioxia took another beating owing to a sharp exit from a sector that saw blistering gains in the first half of this year.

South Korea’s Kospi stocks index sank nearly four per cent, with SK hynix off 4.2 per cent and Samsung down three per cent.

Further weighing on sentiment was the data center infrastructure firm Elice, whose shares collapsed more than 30 per cent on their trading debut.

The negative sentiment carried over to equity trading in Europe.

The euro rose against the dollar but remained under pressure as violent protests in France and Italy have pushed up government bond yields.

The yield on France’s 10-year government bond rose to 4.94 per cent yesterday, more than 150 basis points above the comparable German government bond, considered the European benchmark of creditworthiness.

The resulting spread between the two yields reached the greatest level since 2011.

Among individual companies, General Motors slumped 6.8 per cent despite reporting better profits than expected. However, the automaker pointed to a recent uptick in commodity costs due to the US-Iran war, clouding its profit outlook. — AFP