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Disclaimer: This article constitutes the author’s personal views and is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as financial advice in any shape or form. Please do your own research and seek your own advice from a qualified financial advisor. From time to time, the author holds positions in the stocks mentioned below consistent with the views and opinions expressed in this article. This is a disclosure, not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.
Market commentary
MSCI All Country Asia-Pacific had a significant rebound in April 2026:
However, under the hood, many of the small caps feel like they've lagged the rally. And East Asian hardware stocks and Southeast Asian value stocks have continued to diverge.
It's clear that the vast majority of speculators are now focused on semiconductor stocks. KOSPI is now up +53% year-to-date, driven by memory chip stocks like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Trendforce expects DRAM prices to rise another 58-63% quarter on quarter, so it's not clear that this trend is going to change anytime soon.
One of the major news stories over the past few days is that Interactive Brokers has finally started offering its customers trading access to Korean equities. So I'm planning to ramp up my coverage of Korean equities, probably starting with the stock mentioned here.
On Twitter, I found this chart from Jeff Weniger shows that the dividend yield on Philippine equities has almost reached a multi-decade high:
From a top-down point of view, it's hard to ignore the fact that the Philippine is the only major market with a sub-10x P/E.
In the past month, I've been focused on Thai equities. I've mentioned Samart Aviation and Carabao, but there are a half dozen others on my watch list that I can't wait to dig into. Most of them trade around 10x P/E and have traditionally been seen as blue-chip stocks.
Another compelling theme is the potential for a strong El Niño in 2026. Dryer weather in Asia will be bullish for makers of air conditioning equipment, and bearish for buyers of agricultural commodities, including Indonesian coal mines.
In April, luxury watch prices took another leg up, which should probably be positive for watch retailers around the region:
Insider sentiment deteriorated a bit after the recent rally, and is now neutral:
However, the regional differences continue to be there. Mainland China continues to stand out as a region with a large amount of selling. And Southeast Asian markets continue to see a significant amount of buying. So today, my major focus is on Southeast Asia, along with Korean names that I think will attract greater interest in the next few years.
Portfolio update
My portfolio had a nice little rebound of +3.0% month-on-month in April 2026, driven by strength in my Japanese software stocks. Since the portfolio's inception in October 2021, the portfolio's value has increased by +71.3%, equivalent to a +12.6% compound annual growth rate:
Here's what my Asia-focused portfolio looked like as of 29 April 2026:
