Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said mediators have conveyed messages from the US, but Iran is not negotiating with Washington at present.

Hong Kong stocks opened higher and the Hang Seng reclaimed the 25,000 mark, hitting an intraday high of 25,206 (up as much as 243 points). At midday the Hang Seng was up 0.81% and the Hang Seng Tech index was up 1.69%, with market turnover HKD 111.23 bln. Sector winners included media & entertainment, travel, consumer electronics, new consumer, airlines and autos; road transport, semiconductors, oil & gas, optical communications and coal lagged. Notable movers: 00805.HK +22%, Xiaomi Group (01810.HK) +7.6%, 00100.HK +5%; 02513.HK, Trip.com Group (09961.HK) and Meituan (03690.HK) each rose over 3.5%.

China A-shares rallied into the close: ChiNext up over 3% after late-session acceleration, Beijing Stock Exchange 50 +2.2%, Shanghai Composite +1.14%. Nearly 5,200 stocks advanced and 115 stocks hit limit-up.