The New Year began with subdued volatility, but the calm was subsequently shattered by geopolitical events, notably US’s desire to take over Greenland for its strategic Arctic Circle argument. Demand for gold and silver skyrocketed with prices hitting new fresh highs. However, these high precious metal prices can create a range of challenges for precious metal-dependent industries like solar panel makers and EV producers which use silver as part of their components in their production. This may further impact the profitability of the solar panel makers which are already facing an oversupply situation.

Asian markets started the year mixed but with some positive moves. Several key themes are driving the markets, central amongst them is a strong Asian IPO pipeline especially in Hong Kong and India. Other country-specific themes that are driving the markets include the deployment of funds from the Equity Market Development Programme in Singapore. The Korean KOSPI has exceeded their President’s target, with technology companies fuelling the rally on accelerated semiconductor demand. China surprised with an export outperformance with a record 2025 trade surplus, plus resurgent interests in AI-related tech names. While in Japan, performance is mixed where there are concerns with the volatility and soaring yields in the Japanese Government Bonds market.

In 2025, US technology stocks dominated investor attention for much of the year, later turning to precious metals commodities. This period also underscored the importance of diversification and currency exposure beyond the US. With growth now amplifying across global markets, moderate softening of the US dollar may act as a drag on returns from US assets. Against this backdrop, we retain our emphasis on broadening exposure to other markets and sectors while being mindful of our stock selection, particularly in the technology sector. We continue to maintain a disciplined, bottom-up fundamental approach in portfolio construction.