Review of 2025: Can Tech Stocks Rebound in 2026?

 

Year 2025 was dominated by Donald Trump's return to the White House and his reciprocal tariffs which resulted in trade war with China.

Within the year, US Fed cut the interest rate from 4.5% to 3.75%, which is generally good for its stock market.

Precious metals price staged a remarkable rally. Gold price rose more than 60% in 2025 to a record high above USD4,500, while silver & platinum prices appreciated even more with their prices more than doubled.

Brent crude oil price dropped about 25% from USD80 to USD60 per barrel, while palm oil price also weakened 20% from RM5,000 to RM4,000 per tonne.

Bitcoin price broke new high in Sep25 to over USD120k but retreated to end the year at around USD88k, down 10% from around USD98k at the beginning of the year.

Malaysia Ringgit appreciated approximately 10% against the USD, from RM4.50 to RM4.05. At the same time, SGD weakened 5% against MYR from RM3.30 to RM3.15.

My Portfolio Dec25

Summary of December 2025

Portfolio @ End of Dec25

 

Year 2025 is a superb year for stock markets in almost the whole world, but not for Malaysia.

After suffering loss in the first 11 months, KLCI managed to end the year in positive territory with a 2.3% gain, thanks to a late push of the index stocks in December. 

However, most small and mid cap stocks suffered badly.

For investors who invest in US stock market, it seems to be a good harvest year. An annual return of 20-30% should be easily within reach.

The S&P 500 advanced 16.4% in 2025, but it still "underperformed" compared to other major markets in the world.

The Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF registered a remarkable annual return of 32.3% in 2025. It just shows how bullish year 2025 was.

My Portfolio Nov25

 Summary For November 2025

Portfolio @ End of Nov25

November was a bad month to me as my portfolio was down by 5.3%, deepening the YTD loss to 8.9%.

The faint hope to end 2025 with a positive gain has officially gone.

The main culprit for the poor portfolio performance in Nov25 was MMSV, which plunged 41% after a poorer than expected FY25Q3 result.

Initially I didn't hold a lot of MMSV shares but I added more at 60sen before the result announcement.

It was not an extremely bad quarter result actually with net profit of RM1.85mil (EPS 0.94sen) but the market expected it to beat preceding FY25Q2 net profit of RM2.8mil.

Furthermore, the management painted a "challenging" future quarters which was exactly the opposite of what was said 3 months ago.

Together with major correction in tech sector globally, MMSV could not escape the heavy sell down.

I sold part of its shares at 55sen though, only to regret not selling all of them.

AirAsia & AirAsia X Finally Come Together

 

After much delay, the acquisition of Capital A's aviation business by AirAsia X (AAX) will be completed soon.

AirAsia is undoubtedly a well-known aviation brand which makes Malaysian proud. After the acquisition is completed, is AAX at current share price of RM1.60+ undervalued or overvalued?

To recap, AAX will acquire AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL) & AirAsia Berhad (AAB) from Capital A for RM3bil & RM3.8bil respectively.

AAAGL provides air transport service from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia & Cambodia, while AAB provides air transport service from Malaysia.

AAX itself provides medium to long-haul air transport service from Malaysia (& Thailand).

After this corporate exercise, AAX will become an attractive aviation group housing all AirAsia short, medium & long haul air travels.

However, AAX currently has a net current liabilities. How can it afford to swallow 2 companies valued at RM7.8bil combined?