YOU AM market commentary – September 2025

Equity markets were in a buoyant mood over September, Emerging Markets were the stand out performer, as the MSCI Emerging Market Index rose +7.6% over the month, aided by a rise of over +10% for MSCI China. With a weak property market and falling bank deposit rates, retail investors in China have been returning to the market in their droves. With China growing in confidence that it will have its own leading technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, companies linked to these themes have been performing extremely well.

Technology related stocks in the US also performed very well in September, helping the Nasdaq-100 Index to a rise of +5.8%. Nvidia announced a partnership with ChatGPT developer, OpenAI, for building out datacentres and said it would be investing $100bn. The Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates in September also boosted the sector and the US equity market in general.

The UK equity market was a relative laggard in  September, with the FTSE All-Share Index up +1.9%.  Unlike China and the US, the UK equity market does not have the predominance of technology leaders but there have also been concerns about sticky inflation, the ability for the Bank of England to cut interest rates, and ongoing uncertainty relating to how the government is going to raise taxes to deal with its projected budget shortfalls.

All performance figures are stated in Sterling terms, unless otherwise specified.

Any opinions stated are honestly held but are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon.  

The information contained in this material is for information only and is not to be regarded as an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of any offer to buy or sell, any investments or products.

All the data contained in the communication is believed to be reliable but may be inaccurate or incomplete.