The Fund gained 1.2% for the 2nd quarter, in line with the benchmark MSCI World. The quarter was characterized by a rally in EM which and a selloff in developed markets, with the Eurostoxx 50 ending 4% down for the month.
For much of the quarter much of the sentiment was extremely positive as oil rallied considerably and touched $50 a barrel and beyond. The difficulty was actually deploying cash in the highest beta positions, but with a mix if Europe, US and EM exposure we manged to end the quarter slightly ahead of the market.
We did not do any significant changes to our holdings or allocation. For the second half of the year, now that BREXIT is behind us, we think that any key risks may come from either geo-political events (such as the recent Turkish attempted military coup and the aftermath) or an unexpected change in the US rates. Finally, we see the US presidential election as a non-event and believe that markets have priced in whichever candidate were to win come November. Data source: Bloomberg