Oil prices edge lower, while Asian shares rise, tracking Wall Street gains

Oil prices dipped Thursday, following their recent uptick, with Brent crude settling near $95 per barrel. Meanwhile, Asian stock markets experienced a rise. Following a recent escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions, oil prices surged earlier in the week. President Donald Trump expressed expectation that the U.S. military strikes would not persist for an extended period.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, declined 0.4% to $95.26 per barrel. The U.S. benchmark crude also slipped 0.1% to $90.84 a barrel. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2% to 64,455.83. Among key gainers, SoftBank Group, an OpenAI investor, rose 2.9%, Kioxia Holdings, a memory chipmaker, climbed 0.6%, and Tokyo Electron, a chip equipment manufacturer, increased 0.8%.

South Korea’s Kospi index saw a 1.4% rise to 6,656.81. Samsung Electronics added 1.3%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix increased 1.4%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index edged up 0.1% to 25,344.80. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.4% to 3,958.79. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.5% to 9,025.10. Taiwan's Taiex index rose 0.6%, and India's Sensex climbed 0.3%.

This regional uptick followed gains on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index increased 0.5% on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq composite gained 0.5%. Investors welcomed encouraging signs on demand for artificial intelligence from two major technology firms, Dell and Palo Alto Networks.

The AI-driven boom has been a primary catalyst for the S&P 500's gains this year. Dell Technologies surged 15.8% after reporting strong quarterly earnings. Among the largest companies, Nvidia gained 3.2%, Meta Platforms climbed 2.5%, and Micron Technology rose 2.4%.