Oil edges up and equities mixed amid mixed messages on 'talks'

But while crude prices are down from last week and the mood on trading floors has been less dour than most of March, uncertainty and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz -- through which around 20 percent of oil and gas passes -- continues to cast a dark shadow. Washington presented a 15-point plan to end the war, including Iran giving up its enriched uranium and opening up the waterway, while Tehran's state-run TV reported officials had put forward their own five conditions for hostilities to end.