Oil prices settle slightly higher

Oil closed marginally higher on Monday, with Brent crude up 96 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at USD105.28 a barrel, Business Recorder reported. West Texas Intermediate added 19 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to end at USD92.60. Prices had surged past USD4 a barrel early in the session after Donald Trump turned down an Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though those gains were later trimmed.

Mediators from Qatar plan to meet each party separately on Monday or Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing an official familiar with the matter. One session is to be held with Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, in New York, and the other with the American side. The talks are set to center on an updated form of the seven-day plan Iran unveiled last week at the UN, the official added, speaking without being named.

Over the weekend, Iran argued only diplomacy could settle its conflict with the United States and Israel, after Trump rejected its proposal. Trump told Axios on Sunday he anticipated more negotiations this week. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Washington on Monday to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the Saudi state news agency, amid rising hostilities between Riyadh and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.