Markets Today: Japan Consumer Morale Improves. Gold Retreats from $5600 Highs, FTSE 100 Eyes Breakout

• Asian tech markets, led by South Korea (+23% in Jan), continue a strong rise
• The US Dollar remains shaky, trading near four-year lows after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged as expected.
• Gold surged to a new record high near $5,595/oz before a pullback to below $5500/oz.
• The FTSE 100 index is positioned for fresh highs after bouncing off its 100-day moving average from a technical perspective.

Asian tech stocks continued their strong month-long rise on Thursday, fueled by investors who are optimistic about company profits and eagerly awaiting Apple’s upcoming financial results.

While US and European officials tried to speak positively to support the dollar, the currency remained shaky.

The US Federal Reserve left interest rates alone as widely expected, while Chair Jerome Powell talked of a "clearly improving" economic outlook and broad support on the committee for a pause.

Powell would not be drawn on whether he would remain as a governor after he steps down as Chair in May, given Trump's efforts to pressure the Fed into more aggressive cuts.

In the corporate world, Samsung Electronics helped keep the market mood high by tripling its profits, largely because the race to build Artificial Intelligence is driving up the price of computer chips.

Regionally, South Korea’s stock market saw a small daily rise that pushed its total gains for January to a massive 23%, while Taiwan’s market is up nearly 13% for the month.

Japan’s market rose only slightly, as it struggled with unstable currency values and rising interest rates.

However, not every country did well; Indonesia’s stock market dropped for a second day after warnings that their trading rules weren't clear enough. This lack of transparency caused the investment bank Goldman Sachs to downgrade its view on Indonesian stocks.

Most Read: 2026 US Dollar Forecast: How the Fed, Government Spending, and AI Will Drive Volatility

Japan’s consumer confidence index increased to 37.9 in January 2026 from 37.2 in December, but remained slightly below market forecasts of 38.

It marked the highest reading since April 2024, as all components strengthened: overall livelihood (36.8 vs 35.9 in December 2025), employment outlook (42.4 vs 41.5), willingness to buy durable goods (30.4 vs 30.2), and income growth (42.0 vs 41.3).

A positive for Japan at a time that it is needed with elections on the horizon and concerns around debt, this will be welcome news.

European stocks recovered on Thursday, helped by rising prices for oil, gold, and silver.

This positive turn comes after a bad day on Wednesday caused by weak earnings from luxury brands. Nervous investors are buying gold and silver to keep their money safe, which has pushed metal prices up and boosted the stock prices of mining companies.

Energy companies are also doing well because oil prices are rising on fears that the US might attack Iran.

Meanwhile, market participants are busy analyzing a flood of company financial reports. They are watching US tech giants for news on Artificial Intelligence and checking European companies to see if they are staying healthy despite global trade conflicts.

However, some major German companies struggled; software giant SAP saw its stock plunge after reporting only average sales, and Deutsche Bank shares fell despite announcing its highest profits in years.

This dragged down the German DAX Index, which is also suffering because the government admitted the economy is growing slower than expected.

On the FX front, the US dollar remained shaky on Thursday as investors continued to worry about American economic policies and global politics.

Earlier in the week, the dollar crashed to a four-year low after President Trump appeared unconcerned about its weakness, though it stabilized slightly after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent assured the market that the US still wants a strong currency.

Currently, the dollar is trading very close to those recent lows.

Meanwhile, the Euro has dropped back slightly below $1.20, as European banking officials are concerned that if their currency gets too strong, it could hurt their economy.

In other currencies, the British Pound is hovering near a four-and-a-half-year high, and the Australian dollar hit a three-year peak because investors expect interest rates there to rise next week.

Currency Power Balance

Gold prices surged again on Thursday in the Asian session, climbing close to $5,600 per ounce as nervous market participants rushed to buy the metal to protect their money from global political and economic trouble.

Gold rose 2.7% to trade around $5,546, after hitting a new record high of nearly $5,595 earlier in the day; this marks the ninth day in a row that gold has broken price records.

There has been a selloff since then with the precious metal reaching lows around the $5475/oz handle in early European trade.The precious metal is still up over $1000 for the month of January.

Silver also reached a major milestone, briefly jumping past $120 per ounce before settling back down to around $118. Silver prices have risen more than 60% this year because it is in short supply and investors are looking for a cheaper alternative to gold.

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Data is largely thin today with Geopolitical developments likely to remain key. Greenland, tariffs, US-Iran among other discussions remain key drivers of volatility.

There is also a host of US companies reporting earnings today which could also stoke volatility with Apple likely to be the main focus. The only US data of note is the initial jobless claims data which have been lower than expected of late..

Barring a negative print here, the DXY can work its way higher.

From a technical perspective, the FTSE 100 index has bounced off the 100-day MA on the four-hour timeframe once more.

This puts the index looking like it is on its way to fresh highs..

Immediate resistance rests at 10243 with a break above eyeing the 10277 handle before the 10300 handle comes into focus.

A move lower here may find support at 10178 before the psychological 10000 handle and the 200-day MA at 9973 comes into focus.

FTSE 100 Index Daily Chart, January 29, 2026

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