Highlights;
In a relatively quiet month for economic and policy news, global equity prices rose, helped by corporate earnings reports in the United States and Europe that were relatively strong.
The US Dollar fell 2.9% against a trade-weighted basket of currencies as the “Trump Slump” continued.
Over the month the lower US Dollar, and Chinese policies to cut metal production capacity, boosted commodity prices denominated in US Dollars such as oil, copper, aluminium and iron ore.
US technology stocks renewed their uptrend helped by strong earnings reports from Apple, Facebook and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Chinese economic growth remained at a strong 6.9% annual rate in the June quarter.
Australia’s equity market traded sideways for the second month in a row as investors remained cautious ahead of reporting season.