(Aug 19): The Tantallon India Fund closed -4.58% in July. The fault lines between tweets have finally been exposed, with the renminbi breaking its RMB7:US$1 floor. The harsh economic costs of a protracted trade conflict, the unprecedented mass demonstrations in Hong Kong challenging China’s hegemony, the rolling conflicts in the Middle East and the uncertainty posed by Johnson-ian bluster and bravado in the UK would suggest that geopolitics are likely to further erode fragile investor confidence.
In India, the proposal to scrap Article 370, rescinding the special rights and privileges of “permanent residents” in the disputed border state of Kashmir, while transformative and bold and in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s explicit election agenda, has been a “surprise” at a time when the slowdown in the real economy has already generated significant investor angst. It has certainly been another challenging summer.
