Asian shares experienced a mixed trading session on July 5, 2026, with initial gains largely pared by the close. This comes after a quiet Wall Street on Friday due to the Independence Day holiday. European stocks, however, reached record highs with a fourth consecutive weekly gain, led primarily by technology and utilities sectors, and the STOXX 600 was up 0.7%.
The global trading landscape showed varied performance: the ASX 200 added 0.42% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.78%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 opened 0.86% lower before managing a 0.34% gain for the Topix index. South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.97%, however, the Kosdaq Index declined 1.12%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures saw a slight increase.
The initial optimism in Asian markets was tempered by a decline in semiconductor stocks, mirroring a trend seen in US markets. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) had previously dropped 4.5%, with significant declines in Teradyne and KLA. Nvidia was down 1.4% and Micron 5.5%. Gold continued its rally, trading 1.4% higher to $4,183/oz, bringing its gains over the last three sessions to approximately 4.4%. JPMorgan forecasts a gold price of $4,500 in Q4, while also flagging downside risks due to potential rate hikes.
