Oil slips, Asian shares rise on Wall Street gains

Oil prices slipped Thursday, September 3, after recent gains, with Brent crude trading near USD 95 a barrel, while Asian shares advanced, tracking gains on Wall Street. US futures edged higher.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.4 per cent to USD 95.26 per barrel, while benchmark US crude shed 0.1 per cent to USD 90.84 a barrel.

Renewed fighting between the US and Iran had pushed oil prices sharply higher earlier in the week. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday, September 2, he does not expect the US bombing campaign to last "much longer."

Asian markets

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.2 per cent to 64,455.83. Among major gainers, OpenAI investor SoftBank Group rose 2.9 per cent, memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings rose 0.6 per cent, and chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron gained 0.8 per cent.

South Korea's Kospi rose 1.4 per cent to 6,656.81, with Samsung Electronics up 1.3 per cent and memory chipmaker SK Hynix up 1.4 per cent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng edged 0.1 per cent higher to 25,344.80, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.4 per cent to 3,958.79.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 per cent to 9,025.10. The Taiex in Taiwan rose 0.6 per cent, while India's Sensex climbed 0.3 per cent.

Wall Street backdrop

The regional advance followed gains on Wall Street, where the benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent on Wednesday, September 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6 per cent, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.5 per cent.

Investors welcomed encouraging signals about demand for artificial intelligence from two major tech companies, Dell and Palo Alto Networks. The AI boom has been the key driver behind the S&P 500's gains this year, according to the report.

Dell Technologies surged 15.8 per cent following strong quarterly profits. Among other major names, Nvidia gained 3.2 per cent, Meta Platforms climbed 2.5 per cent, and Micron Technology rose 2.4 per cent. Nvidia, whose large market value tends to give it more influence over the broader market's direction, and Micron, a computer memory seller, were among other big tech companies tied to the AI boom that rallied.

Bonds and currencies

In the bond market, the yield on the US 10-year Treasury fell to 4.77 per cent from more than 4.81 per cent early Wednesday, September 2, after a global bond sell-off triggered growing concerns over inflation, energy shocks caused by the Iran war, and rising US government debt.

The Japanese yen strengthened sharply against the US dollar, with the dollar trading at 157.78 yen early Thursday, September 3, down from 158.71 yen late Wednesday, September 2. The dollar had surged above 160 yen earlier in the week, raising expectations that regulators might intervene to prevent the yen from falling further.

The euro was trading at USD 1.1598, up from USD 1.1588.

The US is set to release an employment report for August on Friday, September 4.