Asian Markets Decline Amid Partial Oil Price Recovery

The Nikkei index is down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng and KOSPI are down 0.5%. Following sharp declines yesterday, Brent crude is up 1.3% to $84.9 per barrel, and WTI is up 1% to $81.1 per barrel. Samsung shares are weakening by 2.4%, and SK Hynix is down 2%.

Palantir and Snap Surge in After-Hours Trading

Palantir jumped 15% in after-hours trading after reporting second-quarter revenue of $1.94 billion, compared to $1 billion in the same quarter last year—a 93% increase. This figure surpassed analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion.

Revenue from government contracts grew by 90% to $809 million, while revenue from commercial contracts with US customers jumped 149% to $746 million. The company recorded a net profit of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to $329 million in the same period last year. Earnings per share stood at 41 cents, beating the expected 35 cents.

Palantir raised its annual revenue forecast from US commercial customers to over $3.42 billion for 2026, and upgraded its total revenue forecast to a range of $8.15–8.16 billion.

Snap also surged 7.2% in after-hours trading. The operator of Snapchat finished the second quarter with $1.6 billion in revenue, a 19% increase from the $1.34 billion reported in the same quarter last year. Daily active users reached 493 million, exceeding market expectations of 487 million.

The quarterly net loss was reduced to $164 million from $262.6 million in the same quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, Snap recorded a profit of $250 million, surpassing the market's expectation of $192 million.

Secondary Offering at India's Insurance Giant

The Indian government will sell up to 6.5% of the shares of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) at a 10% discount to yesterday's closing price. The state is expected to raise up to 314 billion rupees (approximately $3.3 billion).

The offering includes a base sale of 2.5% of shares with an option to sell an additional 4%. The offer price is set at 382 rupees per share. The government, which currently holds 96.5% of LIC, is required to reduce its stake to 75% by 2032. As of the end of March 2026, the company managed assets totaling 57.29 trillion rupees (about $600 billion).

Asian Market Overview

Asian stock exchanges are declining despite a positive close in New York, where the Dow Jones rose 1.3% to a new record, the S&P 500 rose 1.5%, and the Nasdaq rose 2.1%.

Japan's NH Foods is falling 8.4%, and Yamato Holdings is weakening by 6.8%. Conversely, Furukawa Electric jumped 10.7% following strong reports, and Otsuka surged 8%.

In Seoul, SK Telecom shares jumped 13%, while in Hong Kong, Li Auto is down 4%.