NZ sharemarket trailed in Q2 but good longer term

In each of the last three quarters the global equity markets rose 7% - despite high inflation, tight monetary policy, ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and rising tensions between China and the west.

It has been a narrow rally - with the seven biggest US stocks (predominantly tech) accounting for most of the rise in the S&P 500 in the last quarter. This reflects the current mania for anything related to AI.

This dynamic has seen some indices become extraordinarily concentrated with the weight of the seven stocks shown below in the Nasdaq 100 reaching 55% to trigger a ‘special rebalancing’ this month.