(Jan 2): Stocks kicked off the new year on a positive note on Friday, with Asian shares and US equity-index futures advancing, while precious metals rebounded after a soft finish to 2025.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.5%, led by gains in technology stocks, with Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) among the winners. Futures for the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%, signalling that both benchmarks may end a four-day losing streak.
Precious metals were once again in focus with spot gold rising 0.7% and silver advancing 1.7%. Optimism spilled into cryptocurrencies, while Australia’s sovereign bonds dropped along with a gauge of the dollar. There will be no cash trading in Treasuries in Asian hours due to a holiday in Japan. Chinese markets are also shut.
Despite the recent pullback, global stocks posted their strongest year since 2019, supported by expectations of stronger earnings and optimism around artificial intelligence (AI). Even so, uncertainty over the outlook for US monetary policy and elevated valuations among technology companies remain key risks.
“The end of 2025 was a fizzer in global markets but it doesn’t detract from the fact it was a very good year for investors,” Kyle Rodda, a senior analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note. “Naturally, the start of the new year comes with the question everyone asks moving from one year to the next: will this continue? The consensus is that, yes, it will.”
See also: Stocks decline on final day of 2025 as gold steadies
Elsewhere, a Bloomberg gauge of the dollar fell 0.1% on Friday.
Last year, the world’s reserve currency recorded its worst year since 2017, with investors saying more declines are coming if the next US Federal Reserve chief opts for deeper interest-rate cuts.
“Structural dollar risk is elevated in January,” said Richard Franulovich, the head of foreign exchange strategy at Westpac Banking Corp.
See also: South Korea crushes global benchmarks with best stock rally since 1999
Meanwhile, AI remains one of the key themes for the markets. Wall Street is now well aware of the risks surrounding the AI boom. But when it comes to the year ahead, few advocate walking away from what they describe as a “revolutionary technology”.
The economic impact of AI was a top story in 2025 and will remain so in 2026, Goldman Sachs Group Inc economists including Joseph Briggs and Andrew Tilton, wrote in a note on Wednesday.
While AI-related capital expenditure has clearly surged, the impact on gross domestic product has been minimal and the AI spending boom doesn’t look particularly large when appropriately benchmarked against past technology investment cycles, they wrote.
“We remain optimistic on global growth in 2026, largely because our growth forecasts are well above consensus in the US and China,” they said.
Market research firm Bespoke Investment Group cautioned against expecting solid market performance during the first trading day of the new year.
Since 1953, the S&P 500’s median change to kick off a new year has been a 0.3% drop, with gains less than half the time, according to a note by Bespoke. The stock market has also traded lower on the first trading day of each of the past three years, the note said.
Investors have at least one reason to be optimistic heading into the new year. MSCI’s gauge for global stocks has climbed an average 1.4% in January over the last 10 years and advanced in six of those instances, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
To stay ahead of Singapore and the region’s corporate and economic trends, click here for Latest Section
Corporate news:
- Samsung Electronics shares surged as much as 3.2% to a new record high after its chief executive officer said its HBM4 chips are winning customers’ compliment that “Samsung is back”.
- Tesla Inc is expected to report on Friday that it delivered around 440,900 vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 11% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
- BYD Co met its full-year sales target and likely surpassed Tesla Inc to become the world’s largest electric-vehicle maker in 2025.
- Baidu Inc submitted a proposal to the Hong Kong stock exchange for a separate listing of Kunlunxin, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures had risen 0.3% as of 10.49am Tokyo time
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.3%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.5%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro rose 0.1% to US$1.1762
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 156.64 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9728 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin rose 0.3% to US$88,496.34
- Ether rose 0.4% to US$2,997.56
Bonds
- Australia’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.81%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to US$57.55 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.7% to US$4,351.53 an ounce
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
