With less than three hours to go in the first full week of trading in 2026, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up a slender 0.1% since last Friday's close, with these three ASX 200 stocks racing ahead of those gains.
So, which three stocks are already delivering outsized returns in the new year?
Read on!
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Two ASX 200 stocks smashing the benchmark this week
The first company pleasing its shareholders in these early days of 2026 is BlueScope Steel Ltd (ASX: BSL).
Shares in the painted and coated steel products manufacturer closed last Friday trading for $24.14. At the time of writing, shares are changing hands for $29.29 apiece. This sees the ASX 200 stock up an impressive 21.3% over the week.
The bulk of those gains were delivered on Tuesday.
BlueScope shares closed up 20.8% on the day after the company announced that it had received a Non-Binding Indicative Offer from a consortium comprised of SGH Ltd (ASX: SGH) and Steel Dynamics Inc (NASDAQ: STLD) to acquire 100% of its shares.
SGH and the United States-based Steel Dynamics offered $30 per share in cash in their takeover bid. This values BlueScope at $13.2 billion.
But the BlueScope board may be holding out for an even better offer, saying they were still reviewing the takeover proposal.
Commenting on the takeover offer, SGH CEO Ryan Stokes said:
We believe BlueScope's Australian business is a strong strategic fit for SGH and we have a proven track record of driving performance improvement in domestic industrial businesses. We intend to leverage our disciplined operating model and capital allocation approach to deliver better outcomes for stakeholders.
Which brings us to the second ASX 200 stock shooting the lights out this week, Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR).
Liontown shares closed last Friday trading for $1.62. Shares are currently trading for $2.03 each. This puts the Liontown share price up 25.3% for the week.
There was no fresh news out from the Aussie lithium miner. But we do know that lithium prices have soared some 14% since last Friday amid expectations of increased demand, particularly out of China. Lithium carbonate is now trading at its highest levels since November 2023.
Leading the charge…
Moving on to the top-performing ASX 200 stock on my list for the week, we have Codan Ltd (ASX: CDA).
Shares in the communications and metal detection company closed last week at $29.02 and are currently changing hands for $36.90 apiece. This sees the Codan share price up a whopping 27.2% in this first full trading week of 2026.
Most of those gains are being delivered today.
Codan shares are up 16.9% at the time of writing after the ASX 200 stock released some strong, unaudited H1 FY 2026 results.
Highlights for the six months include a 29% year-on-year increase in revenue to around $394 million.
And on the bottom line, Codan's underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) surged some 52% from H1 FY 2025 to "not less than" $70 million.
