China and momentum top MSCI in July

China was the best performing country last month for equity investors, while momentum beat other factors like quality, index provider MSCI has reported.

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Kristen McGachey

Compared with the All Country World Index (ACSI) benchmark, which produced returns of 2.8%, China generated 8.9%, making it far and away the best performing country on a total return basis.

The second best performing country of the month, Australia, produced returns of 4.4%, while Switzerland fell to the bottom of the leaderboard, returning a disappointing 0.9%.

Looking at year-to-date returns, China also remained top of the pack having produced returns of 36.1%, followed by Korea (33%) and France (21.3%).  

The UK, which was the single worst performing country in June, was in the middle of the pack in July, returning 2.6%, just under the ACWI.

Over July, momentum was the best performing factor, returning 3.5% versus the ACWI’s 2.8%.

Year-to-date, momentum produced returns of 20.8%, beating enhanced value (15.7%), quality (16.6%) and high dividend yield (12.4%).

The weakest factor so far this year has been minimum volatility USD, which generated returns of just 11.9%.

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