US markets didn’t perform particularly well in 2025 for example, over the last 12 months the S&P 500 was up by +16.92%. However, the Spanish Ibex 35 posted gains of almost +50.0% in that 12 month period and several smaller European indices did even better. Slovenia’s SBITOP Index is up 5+4.0% over the last year, but even that is knocked into a cocked hat by the gain seen in the Euro Stoxx Banks Index that was was up 75.37$ during the last 12 months.

If we are looking for markets that could outperform in 2026, year to date gains might provide an indicator. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up by +8.25% in 2026 already and Bulgaria’s SOFIX index has risen by an impressive +18.62 YTD.

And we shouldn’t over look South Korea where the Kospi Composite Index, which rose by some +90.0% in 2025, has added +8.89% since the turn of the year.

Goldman Sachs shared a video this week setting out its view on South Korean equity indices on which they are bullish. The bank cites the countries exposure to AI and silicon chips, improving corporate governance what’s more Goldman flags that some 70% of Korean stocks, are trading below one times book value compared to less than 40.0% for the constituents of Japan’s topic index.

Retail investors in the UK wont find it easy to trade in individual Korean stocks, however, the are ETFs that track South Korean stocks. For example the iShares plc MSCI Korea UCITS ETF (Dist) which trades under the ticker IKOR.L, which rose by 88.90% over the last year and is up 6.55% ytd.

In conclusion then, there are markets that outperformed the US significantly in 2025 and there are several contenders that may repeat the trick in 2026.