(Jan 8): Asian stocks edged marginally lower on Thursday as investors largely stayed on the sidelines amid a lack of fresh catalysts ahead of key US economic data. Treasuries held their gains.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index fell 0.1% after paring an earlier decline of 0.3%. Defence stocks in the region climbed after President Donald Trump’s plans to increase US military budget. Samsung Electronics Co rose 0.6% after quarterly profit more than tripled to a record. The moves came after a gauge of global stocks and the S&P 500 Index both posted their first declines of 2026.
Treasury 10-year yields fell three basis points to 4.15% on Wednesday after data showed signs of weakness in US employment, which kept alive bets for at least two US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cuts this year. Oil rose, while gold and silver steadied after falling for the first time this week.
The moves suggested that optimism which had lifted risk assets since the start of the year may be starting to fade amid rising geopolitical uncertainty and a mixed global economic outlook, with earnings season approaching. Traders also face a busy week ahead, with Friday’s US payrolls report coinciding with a Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s global tariffs.
“Markets are directionless in the first full week of trading in the new year,” said Ritesh Ganeriwal, the head of investment at Syfe Pte Ltd in Singapore. “While we await December payrolls and the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs later this week, key drivers of price actions will be the upcoming earnings.”
See also: Record Asian stock rally eases on Japan, oil falls
Stocks have been rallying on optimism over solid earnings growth and inflation remaining sufficiently contained for the Fed to keep cutting borrowing costs. That rosy view has persisted despite a worsening geopolitical backdrop, including US actions in Venezuela, its threats of intervention elsewhere and rising tensions between China and Japan.
That rally faces a key test when the earnings season kicks off. In Asia, Samsung was one of the first major companies to report preliminary earnings.
The company’s profit surged after global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers lifted memory chip prices. Memory makers such as Samsung are diverting production away from everyday tech to build more lucrative high-end chips for AI giants like Nvidia Corp amid a global rush to roll out massive data centres.
See also: Asian stocks in best-ever start to a year, currencies strengthen
Global affairs remained in focus after US forces seized two more sanctioned oil tankers as part of its energy quarantine of Venezuela. European leaders closed ranks behind Denmark as Trump amplified threats to seize Greenland.
Elsewhere, China started an anti-dumping probe into a key chipmaking material from Japan, escalating a dispute between Asia’s largest economies.
In commodities, copper slid from a record high on Wednesday, declining along with other industrial metals, as traders booked profits from a swift run-up in prices. Futures for copper, nickel and zinc declined more than 2% at the close of trading on the London Metal Exchange.
Oil edged higher amid more measures from the US regarding Venezuela, including a plan to indefinitely control future crude sales and the seizure of two more sanctioned tankers.
Elsewhere, sales of top-notch dollar bonds surged to US$88.4 billion ($113.4 billion) this week — the most for any week since May 2020. Investors have been eager to buy corporate debt, particularly long-dated securities.
Corporate news:
- Samsung Electronics’s profit jumped a better-than-projected 208%, driven by surging global demand for AI servers that sharply lifted memory chip prices.
- Warner Bros Discovery Inc determined that an amended takeover offer from Paramount Skydance Corp is inferior to the deal it already has in place with Netflix Inc.
- Pirelli & C SpA is in talks with its largest shareholder, China’s Sinochem Group, over options that include reducing the Chinese conglomerate’s stake in the Italian tyre maker.
- BlueScope Steel Ltd rejected an US$8.8 billion takeover bid by US steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc and Australian conglomerate SGH Ltd.
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Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10.25am Tokyo time on Thursday
- Japan’s Topix fell 0.3%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6%
- The Shanghai Composite was little changed
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at US$1.1677
- The Japanese yen was unchanged at 156.76 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9931 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 0.4% to US$91,402.73
- Ether rose 0.8% to US$3,173.62
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.15%
- Japan’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.090%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.69%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to US$56.39 a barrel
- Spot gold was little changed
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
