Broader Asian stocks rose on Monday, but were nursing a mixed start to 2026

Most Asian stocks gained on Monday with Chinese AI shares in the lead on growing optimism over the sector, although bigger advances were held back by growing geopolitical and macroeconomic risks.

Trading volumes were also subdued on account of a market holiday in Japan.

Tech shares were the best performers for the day, aided by Chinese AI gains.

KOSPI was the best performer, advancing 1.2% on gains in tech and chipmaking stocks.

Hang Seng added 0.8% on gains in tech, while the mainland China Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes added between 0.5% and 1%.

In Hong Kong, shares of several AI firms that debuted in the past week rose sharply after strong debuts last week. Z.AI, listed as Knowledge Atlas Tech and the first of China’s “AI tigers” to go public, soared 25% on Monday.

Peer MiniMax Group Inc, which also debuted last week, soared more than 20%, while chipmaker Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX SemiCon Co rose almost 3%.

Mainland-listed Cambricon Technologies Corp Ltd added more than 3%.

Elsewhere, TSMC’s Taiwan shares gained 1.4%, after the world’s largest contract chipmaker posted strong year-on-year growth in its December sales on Friday.

But the sector was still nursing deep losses through late-2025, as it was pressured by concerns over stretched valuations and circular investing in AI.

Broader Asian stocks rose on Monday, but were nursing a mixed start to 2026. Heightened geopolitical tensions across the globe were a major headwind for risk-driven assets in the past week, offsetting an otherwise strong rally in tech.

KOSPI and Nikkei 225 led gains in the first week of the year, while Chinese markets also logged gains. But indexes with smaller tech exposure lagged.

Straits Times index rose 0.7%, extending gains after the government flagged some changes to investments by sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek.

ASX 200 added 0.5%, with miners tracking a rally in precious and base metal prices.