US equities ended Q2 2025 on a strong note, with the and rallying to new record highs on the final trading day of June. The S&P 500 erased all losses from Q1 and early April, previously triggered by President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, and surged 5% in June, bringing its Q2 gain to 11%, marking its best quarterly performance since December 2023.
Nikkei 225 Underperformed While Singapore’s STI Scaled Towards a Fresh All-Time High
Asia Pacific markets traded mixed during the first half of today’s session. Japan’s declined by 1%, halting a five-day winning streak, weighed down by President Trump’s renewed tariff threats. He cited Japan’s refusal to accept US rice exports as justification for possible new tariffs ahead of the 9 July expiration of the 90-day tariff pause on US trading partners (excluding China).
In contrast, Singapore’s rose 0.8%, hitting a fresh intraday all-time high of 3,995, surpassing the previous record close of 3,972 on 24 March 2025. Australia’s edged up 0.1% to 8,549, just 1.5% shy of its all-time high of 8,639 set on 13 February 2025. The Hong Kong market was closed for a public holiday.
USD/JPY Bearish Breakdown from Medium-Term Ascending Range
The extended its decline at the start of July and Q3, led by strength. USD/JPY fell 0.4% intraday to 143.64, breaching key medium-term ascending range support at 143.90.
The yen’s strength was supported by Japan’s , which rose to 13 in Q2 2025 from 12, beating forecasts of 10, as Japan’s economy showed resilience amid rising US tariffs.
Gold’s Advance Is Now Fast Approaching a Key Intermediate Resistance
Gold () continued to climb, adding 0.8% intraday after yesterday’s 0.9% gain, buoyed by broad US dollar weakness. A sustained break above the US$3,346 intermediate resistance, also the 20-day moving average, would signal the end of the minor corrective phase from the 16 June 2025 high and potentially revive bullish momentum.
Economic Data Releases
Fig 1: Key data for today’s Asia mid-session (Source: MarketPulse)
Chart of the Day – Singapore 30 Bullish Trend Remains Intact
Fig 2: Singapore 30 CFD Index minor trend as of 1 July 2025 (Source: TradingView)
Since its 23 June 2025 low of 396.58 (also a retest on the 50-day moving average), the price actions of the Singapore 30 CFD Index (a proxy of the MSCI Singapore futures) have evolved into a minor ascending channel and reintegrated back above the 20-day moving average on last Thursday, 26 June.
In addition, the hourly RSI momentum indicator has continued to flash out a bullish momentum condition, holding above a parallel ascending trendline support at the 58 level. These observations suggest that the Singapore 30 CFD Index is likely undergoing a potential bullish impulsive up move sequence within its minor and medium-term uptrend phases (see Fig 2).
Watch the 410.50 short-term pivotal support to maintain the current bullish tone for the next intermediate resistances to come in at 417.20 and 419.50/420.90 (also a Fibonacci extension).
On the other hand, failure to hold at 410.50 negates the bullish tone for a slide towards 407.00 (also the 20-day moving average), and a break below it triggers a deeper minor corrective decline to expose the next intermediate support at 403.30 (also the 50-day moving average).