Major global markets were hammered in June as markets and investors panicked on the Fed's signals that QE may be tapered off by 2014. The result was an overreaction that put investors into risk-off mode and saw a sell-off in equity markets in both Europe and the Emerging Markets. Emerging markets dropped 6.8% in USD while European markets shed between 4% and 5.5% in dollar value. Japan was able to maintain a 0.3% performance for the month, while the US markets declined 1.5% in dollar terms.
Locally, resources bore the brunt of the news and declined 13.6% with gold miners declining almost 20% on the back of a sell-off in gold as investors flocked to dollars. Industrials and financials were down 2.9% and 2.4% respectively. The top 40 shares shed 5% while small caps lost 1.1% and mid-caps declined 0.4%. The rand managed to strengthen to R9.83 against the dollar for June.
Fixed interest market saw a significant sell-off in June. Domestic bond yields followed global yields higher, leaving the All Bond index down 1.5%. The Inflation-Linked Bond Index was worse hit and declined 5.5% as real yields spiked. Listed property bucked the trend and recovered some of its large losses in May, up 4.4% in June. Cash remained at multi-decade lows, delivering 0.43% over the month. Accelerating inflation and sluggish domestic growth leaves limited scope for easing of monetary policy.