Meet the Team
TEMIT is managed by an experienced investment team comprising of the following members:

Chetan Sehgal, CFA
Senior Managing Director, Director of Portfolio Management

Andrew Ness
Portfolio Manager, Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity
Overview
Emerging Market (EM) stocks fell in July 2026. Renewed tensions in the Middle East increased market volatility. Technology stocks came under pressure as investors reassessed the potential returns from substantial artificial intelligence (AI)-related capital spending and elevated valuations. For the month, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index returned -4.41%. The MSCI World Index delivered -0.87%, both in net UK-sterling terms.1
The emerging Asia region slipped. Technology stocks in both South Korea and Taiwan sold off following strong gains linked to the AI boom. Concerns about returns and sustainability of AI investments, together with forced deleveraging amplified the declines. The Bank of Korea also raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in three-and-a-half years. Indian equities rose marginally. Domestic information technology stocks bucked the global trend and performed well. Chinese stocks also rose as internet stocks staged a recovery towards the end of the month
Equities in the emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa region posted small gains. Stock indices in the Middle East markets were mixed with Saudi Arabian equities falling after renewed regional tensions weighed on sentiment. In South Africa, inflation picked up more than expected. While this reinforced expectations of a second consecutive interest rate hike, the South African central bank held rates.
Equities in the emerging Latin America (LatAm) region ended higher. Brazilian equities rose as a softer-than-expected mid-July inflation reading reinforced expectations that the central bank could continue reducing interest rates. Two of Mexico’s largest companies, mining and railway operator Grupo Mexico and banking firm Grupo Financiero Banorte, saw their share prices rise following strong results. This helped to anchor the Mexican equity market.
Portfolio Changes & Positioning
During the period, we increased our position in FIT Hon Teng, a manufacturer and distributor of electrical components, including connectors, cables, and wireless devices. Its share price weakened amid the broader correction in AI-related technology stocks, and we took the opportunity to build our position. The company historically relied on the mature consumer electronics and personal computing markets, but its business mix is shifting towards higher-growth areas, including AI data centres, electric vehicles (EVs) and audio products. We believe this transition could support its longer-term growth and profitability
Overall, we increased investments in the industrials, financials and communication services sectors. In terms of countries, we undertook purchases in China/Hong Kong, India and Taiwan.
We trimmed our position in Zhen Ding, the largest printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer in the world, to realise some profit after a prolonged period of share price gains. In our view, Zhen Ding still has its merits. It should benefit from the demand growth in advanced PCB products from new consumer devices and industrial products. Its expanding integrated circuit substrate business also provides an additional source of longer-term growth as the company builds scale in advanced semiconductor packaging.
By sector, we reduced our exposure to energy, health care and utilities. Geographically, we made the biggest sales in Peru, Brazil and South Korea.
Positive Contributors
TEMIT’s net asset value returned -5.01% over the month, compared to the MSCI EM Index-NR’s result of -4.41%, both in UK-sterling terms.
Chinese EV and battery manufacturer BYD led contributors. The core drivers behind BYD’s share price increase included record overseas sales in June 2026, which supported a second consecutive month of year-on-year sales volume growth, alongside continued expansion in markets such as Japan. Cognizant Technology is a US-listed technology services company that derives much of its earnings from services provided from India. Its shares rose during July amid a broader rebound in technology services stocks and a series of expanded AI partnerships. Prosus, a leading global investment company and the largest shareholder of Tencent Holdings, also contributed.
Detractors
Semiconductor companies SK Hynix and MediaTek led detractors, due to profit taking after a strong prior rally, concerns over returns on AI investments and increasing competition from Chinese companies. We continue to remain positive on these two companies. Given the tight memory supply, continued demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), our optimism on SK Hynix centres on its leading position in HBM. This includes the latest HBM4. In our longer term view, MediaTek should be a key beneficiary of the demand growth for chips used in Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, industrial and wi-fi applications. It could also be a beneficiary of the proliferation of new AI applications in various technology devices, which could require on-device AI computing.
Additionally, Zhen Ding’s share price also fell and became a detractor.
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Outlook
EM equities experienced heightened volatility in July, with South Korean equities particularly affected following strong gains earlier in the year. The correction reflected concerns on returns of AI-related capital expenditure, valuations in parts of the market, rising funding rates and an unwinding of leveraged positions. While the volatility could continue, our investment approach avoids identifying market peaks or troughs. Instead, we continue to invest in companies where fundamentals, competitive positions and valuations justify risks.
We continue to view AI as a long-term theme for EMs. Within memory, we see structural growth drivers for high-bandwidth memory, supported by expanding AI applications and rising memory requirements. HBM also has higher technical and customer-qualification barriers than conventional memory, reflecting complex manufacturing, advanced packaging and increasingly customised designs
The EM growth opportunity extends beyond AI. The expansion of EVs, renewable energy and energy-storage capacity is increasing the need for grid investment, supporting demand for SF6-free switchgear (which uses alternative insulation and technologies instead of sulphur hexafluoride), energy-storage systems and power-management solutions. Digitalisation and consumption represent additional long-term themes.
We believe structural growth themes can support long-term returns. Given the wide dispersion across markets, we continue to focus on companies with strong balance sheets and durable earnings, while maintaining our valuation discipline.