Asia mid-session: Singapore’s STI hit a fresh all-time high, USD/JPY extends losses below key range support, Gold advances

[Redator]

US equities ended Q2 2025 on a strong note, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 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 Nikkei 225 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 Straits Times Index 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 ASX 200 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 US dollar extended its decline at the start of July and Q3, led by yen 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 Tankan Large Manufacturers Index, which rose to 13 in Q2 2025 from 12, beating forecasts of 10, as Japan’s economy showed resilience amid rising US tariffs.

Read more in our previous Chart of the day – Potential bearish breakdown of USD/JPY from 9-week range

Gold’s advance is now fast approaching a key intermediate resistance

Gold (XAU/USD) 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).

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