Weekly Market Update - 8 July 2024

Landslide

The UK’s Labour won a landslide victory in the country’s general election, giving Sir Keir Starmer the biggest Labour majority since Tony Blair, exit polls show. Labour is set to take 410 seats, compared to 131 for the Conservative Party. The anti-EU Reform party is on course to win 13 seats, polls show. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will fall well short of an absolute majority, according to polling projections. The far-right group is on course to win between 190 and 250 seats, surveys show. That’s less than the 289 it would need to easily pass bills and control the agenda.

Source: Bloomberg

Gas Shortage

Australia, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas shippers, faces a shortage within a little more than two years, according to an independent inquiry, which urged a boost to production to meet the challenge of rising demand. Shortfalls could emerge for the populous east coast from 2027, a year earlier than expected, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in an interim report. Australia is one of the world’s biggest commodity producers, rich in resources from gold and iron ore to vast troves of offshore gas, yet the nation faces a challenge balancing local energy needs against servicing overseas markets.

Source: Bloomberg

Indian Bonds

More global funds will register in India and directly buy the nation’s bonds once its weight in JPMorgan’s emerging market index rises to as much as 5% by October, overseas investors told the US bank. Several clients of JPMorgan who have been taking proxy exposures to India via instruments such as total returns swaps and supranational bonds will now enter the South Asian market directly, they said in a clients’ call with the bank on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. India got added to JPMorgan’s flagship emerging market bond index on Friday with an initial weight of 1%, to be increased to 10% eventually over a 10-month period.

Source: Bloomberg