Aug 18, 2026 · 6 min
Copper lifts BHP as Asian tech stocks face higher yields
BHP Rises, Tokyo Electron Down, Alibaba Up
The episode connects commodity strength, interest-rate expectations, and imminent Chinese earnings to the diverging performance of Asian markets.
- 1BHP’s profit surge reflects stronger copper and iron ore prices under new leadership.
- 2Rising bond yields are weighing on Japanese technology stocks, including Tokyo Electron.
- 3Investors are watching Alibaba and Baidu ahead of their upcoming earnings reports.
Don't miss
BHP’s profit surge, driven by strong copper and iron ore prices, stands out against the pressure facing Japanese technology stocks.
The brief
Asian markets are splitting along familiar lines: commodity strength is supporting BHP in Australia, while higher-rate expectations are pressuring Japanese technology stocks.
BHP’s profit surge, helped by strong copper and iron ore prices under new leadership, gives the mining group a distinct advantage as metals rally.
Tokyo Electron illustrates the other side of the market move, with rising bond yields weighing on Japanese tech stocks and reshaping rate-sensitive valuations.
Attention then turns to China, where investors are positioning for upcoming earnings from Alibaba and Baidu after the latest shifts across Asian markets.
Lizzie Burden, Stephen Carroll, and Anthony Stevens frame the moves as a contest between commodity momentum, interest-rate pressure, and earnings expectations.
What was said on this episode
20 statements · 10 positive · 10 negative
BHP benefits from copper’s rising importance relative to iron ore.
“They are benefiting from the copper rally as copper overtakes iron ore within its business.”
Listen at 1:03
BHP’s copper-driven position appears more sustainable than its iron-ore exposure.
“So a bit more sustainable footing.”
Listen at 1:20
CSL shares rose 18% amid new drug developments and a planned reset quarter.
“CSL is up 18% as they tout some new drug developments and plan a reset quarter as they call it.”
Listen at 1:25
Cochlear shares rose 7.5%.
“Cochlear is up seven and a half percent.”
Listen at 1:33
Cochlear appears to be improving through greater operational efficiency.
“this long suffering maker of hearing aids finally seems to be turning the corner just by getting more operational efficiency out of the company”
Listen at 1:35
The Bank of Japan should raise interest rates soon to stem yen depreciation.
“The bank of Japan needs to increase interest rates fairly soonish to stem the slide in the Yen”
Listen at 2:12
Higher Japanese interest-rate pressure is weighing on Japanese technology stocks.
“That pressure is coming through on the tech space.”
Listen at 2:24
Higher Japanese short-term yields make Japanese technology stocks harder to trade competitively.
“We pricing in higher short term yields in Japan. That makes tech in Japan harder to trade versus tech elsewhere in the region and in the US for example.”
Listen at 2:27
Higher yields are hurting shares of Advantage, Tokyo Electron, Murata, and Yorkshire.
“that's hurting the shares of the likes of Advantage, Tokyo Electron, Murata and some of these higher beta names like Yorkshire”
Listen at 2:37
Yorkshire shares fell almost 9% from a strong opening.
“It's down almost 9% from quite a strong open.”
Listen at 2:48
Alibaba is currently performing strongly.
“Alibaba is off to the races here.”
Listen at 2:58
Alibaba is outperforming other AI companies through token sales and cloud computing revenue.
“it's pulling away from the other AI plays as it establishes kind of twin verticals between selling their tokens on open benchmark format and getting a lot of money through the door on the cloud computing side of things.”
Listen at 3:00
Investors are more optimistic about Alibaba’s earnings than Tencent’s.
“So there's a lot more optimism on the Alibaba earnings than there was on Tencent”
Listen at 3:12
Baidu has lost search market share over roughly a decade.
“Baidu has basically gone through a decade long slide in losing search market share”
Listen at 3:21
Baidu may lose additional search market share to AI.
“now it faces the prospect of losing search market share to AI”
Listen at 3:28
Baidu’s AI initiatives are currently faltering.
“Baidu's initiatives have been kind of sputtering”
Listen at 3:32
Baidu has one of China’s few high-quality closed-model ecosystems.
“So it's one of China's few closed model ecosystems that's really quite good”
Listen at 3:43
Baidu’s closed-model approach conflicts with China’s direction in AI.
“but it's against the grain of how China is going in that space.”
Listen at 3:48
SK Hynix and SoftBank shares are down about 1%.
“Hynix and Softbank quite weak at the moment. They're down about a percent”
Listen at 3:58
SK Hynix and SoftBank shares reversed gains as higher yields pressured them.
“but they started the day super strong. They were up 4 to 5% but are selling off under the pressure of these higher yields.”
Listen at 4:02
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
Featuring
Baidu
Japan
AustraliaListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.