May was something of a rollercoaster for most markets, with the FTSE100 ending the month -6.57% down. In fact it is now just over 4% lower than at the start of the year, but still 17% up over12 months. The main cause for this – and the poor performance of other markets – has been concern over the Eurozone, thanks to the economic condition of Greece and some of the other southern European countries. In the case of the FTSE100, this has been exacerbated by some internal issues, such as the 14% loss in value suffered by BP during the month as a result of the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spillage and the 6.6% loss of value in Prudential’s shares, as it struggles to gain acceptance for its proposed purchase of AIA (AIG’s Asian business) for what is increasingly looking to be too high a price.
The mid-cap FTSE250 lost -7.03% of its value last month, but is still more than 3.5% higher than at the start of 2010. Meanwhile, on the other side of the “Pond”, the Dow Jones was down -7.92% and the Nasdaq100 -8.29%. Worst performer for the month was the Nikkei225, which lost a whopping -12.17% of its value during May.
Gold, which had peaked at more than US$1,240 per troy ounce during May, ended 3.48% higher at US$1,219.33, while oil, which peaked at about US$90 per barrel for Brent crude 1-month futures, ended the month -15.35% down at US$74.02.
Sterling fluctuated significantly against the euro during May, hitting a low of €1.14 before ending 2.91% higher at €1.184. Conversely, it lost some -4.9% of its value against the dollar (which is why fuel prices have not fallen as much as crude prices might suggest), ending at US$1.45.
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