Precise Investors Editorial Team
Asian stocks were up across the board, led by markets with a heavy tech presence
Stocks rose Monday on the back of a fresh rally in tech firms and oil dipped.
Traders focussed on the long-running artificial intelligence boom and hopes for more US interest rate cuts.
The first full week of business for 2026 will also see the release of key jobs data that could play a role in the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on borrowing costs.
Investors will also be on the lookout for an idea about who US President Donald Trump chooses to take the helm at the central bank when Jerome Powell steps down in May.
Asian stocks were up across the board, led by markets with a heavy tech presence.
Tokyo surged 3% thanks to tech investor SoftBank’s 4.9% gains and chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron’s 7.6% advance.
The Kospi in Seoul gained more than 3%, with SK Hynix up nearly 3% and Samsung Electronics soaring 7.5%.
Taipei jumped 2.6% to a record high, led by chip titan TSMC rocketing more than 5%.
Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Wellington and Manila were also well up, with Hong Kong and Sydney marginally higher.
London, Paris and Frankfurt started on the front foot.
The gains suggest investors were brushing off worries that valuations in the tech sector have become stretched and warnings about the timing and size of returns on huge AI investments.
This move now stands as the strongest start to a year for Asian equities since 2012, coming on the heels of a global market that just delivered its best annual return since 2017, wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.
Still, Kyle Rodda at Capital.com warned: Valuations remain around levels exceeded only by the Dot.com bubble, while allocation to equities is at elevated levels at the same time allocation to cash is on the low side.
Most simply put, the markets probably need to see more evidence of resilient US growth, continued disinflation and therefore US rate cuts, strong corporate earnings, and the pay-offs from artificial intelligence to keep on rising, Rodda added.
Safe-haven investment gold was up more than 1% at about $4,400 per ounce.
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