10-year Treasury hits 5.3%, oil surges and gold stumbles: M&G’s Vikas Pershad on a market under pressure

The US 10-year Treasury yield briefly touched 5.34 per cent this week, its highest level since 2002, before easing slightly. Oil surged more than US$4 a barrel on reports of increased US military deployments to the Middle East and China’s suspension of oil imports. And gold, traditionally the go-to hedge in times like these, fell more than 4 per cent on the month even as every reason to buy it seemed to be lining up at once.

In this episode of Market Focus Weekly, a podcast from The Business Times, guest host Nicole Teo speaks with Vikas Pershad, portfolio manager for APAC Equities at M&G Investments, for a conversation that challenges several assumptions investors are currently holding about rates, AI spending and where the real opportunities in Asia actually sit.

Why listen

• Why higher-for-longer is probably the new baseline, not a temporary overshoot  Pershad explains why the price of money is unlikely to return to post-Covid or post-global financial crisis (GFC) lows, and what that means for how investors should think about the next one to two years.

• Why there is a material disconnect between AI capital commitments and actual cash   Pershad points to the backended nature of many hyperscaler agreements and the rapid rise of open-source model adoption in Asia as reasons to question current AI valuations.

• Why gold may not be the hedge investors assume it is  Pershad is candid about his own uncertainty here, noting that despite every geopolitical and monetary condition pointing toward higher gold prices, the metal has underperformed expectations.

• Why India and South-east Asia could be among the most undervalued markets right now  With India’s listed market cap roughly matching Nvidia’s alone, Pershad explains why two years of underperformance may not be justified by the underlying earnings power.

Markets are sending genuinely mixed signals this week. This conversation helps sort through which ones matter. Listen now.

Discover more episodes at bt.sg/podcasts. Got feedback? Email us at btpodcasts@sph.com.sg.

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Written and hosted by: Nicole Teo (nicolet@sph.com.sg)

With Vikas Pershad, portfolio manager, APAC Equities at M&G Investments

Edited by: Nicole Teo & Claressa Monteiro

Produced by: Nicole Teo & Chai Pei Chieh

A podcast by BT Podcasts, The Business Times, SPH Media

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