Mustafa Elsherkisi armed himself a large ornamental dagger before fatally wounding Mohammed Idris Mirza at a block of flats in Edinburgh in May 2010.
He was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 15 years.
Lawyers acting for Elsherkisi argued that he had suffered a miscarriage of justice following alleged misdirections by the trial judge Roger Craik QC. Lord Hardie, who heard the appeal with Lady Smith and Lady Cosgrove, said: “We are not persuaded that the trial judge misdirected the jury when he told them that intending to kill someone was obviously wicked.”