The Trade war between the US and China intensified in June with President Trump announcing the updated list of Chinese goods worth $ 50 billion, that will be subjected to a 25 per cent tariff with effect from July 6. The Chinese side reacted by issuing a revised list of US goods worth $ 50 billion that will have a tariff imposed. The list targeted agriculture products particularly from places that supported President Trump during the US presidential primary elections. President Trump responded to this by threatening to impose additional 10% tariffs for another $ 200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Equity funds suffered one of their largest weekly outflows during the last week of June, with $29.7 billion pulled out of risky assets over concerns of rising US protectionism and its likely effect on the global economy.

US equity funds lost $24.2 billion as per the EPFR data, outflows from emerging market (EM) equity and debt funds also increased as investors exited EM assets, citing the currency risks from a strengthening US dollar. Around $18 billion worth of funds exited EM equity and debt funds in June following an $8 billion outflow in May.

Around $ 3.9 billion was pulled out of European equity, and a net inflow of $ 2.6 billion was reported into Japanese Equity funds.

Among equity sectors, Technology has been the most resilient to trade worries, although threats to curb Chinese investment in US tech firms hit their stock value. Tech continued to draw the strongest inflows with $0.8 billion and was on a year-to-date total of $19 billion inflows while $9 billion has left all other sector funds.

In fixed income, investment-grade bond funds saw strong inflows of $2.9 billion as investors fled to safety, while high-yield bond funds saw outflows for an eighth consecutive week, with $2 billion removed.

The UK employment figures came out positive, as the latest figures signalled falling unemployment with falling wage growth. The Bank of England postponed its rate hikes and decided to leave the interest rate levels unchanged. The FTSE 100 index lost 41 points over the month and ended at 7636.93. The weakness in sterling against the dollar helped FTSE produce local currency gains as the foreign currency revenues were repatriated.

The concerns of an exit of Italy from Eurozone eased after the new government showed signs of stability. The most important development in Eurozone was the decision of the ECB to curtail its bond-buying program after September. The Euro Stoxx 50 ended the month at 3395.6, down 25 points (0.74%) over the month.

The Chinese markets over the month were troubled by the trade war concerns with the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng Index ending the month at 2847.42 (-7.69%) and 28955.1 (-5.22%) respectively. The Indian market remained under pressure from rising oil prices and the resulting fall in rupee against the USD, over the month the BSE Sensex ended at 35423.5, up 0.14% from last month.

Source: www.moneycontrol.com / JP Morgan Asset Management