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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 rose in August 2026. Memory stocks regained their footing and recovered from July’s technology sell-off. However, sentiment was periodically challenged by elevated US treasury yields, renewed tensions within the Middle East and continued debate over the sustainability of artificial intelligence (AI)-related investments. For the month, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index returned 2.60%. The MSCI World Index delivered 1.82%, both in net UK-sterling terms.1

The emerging Asia region recovered and gained. However, performance was uneven. Technology stocks in both South Korea and Taiwan recovered following last month’s sharp correction. Chinese equities pulled back, with large-capitalisation internet platforms pressured by concerns over the scale and returns of AI investments. Indian equities fell as well, weighed in part by higher crude oil prices. Leadership and governance uncertainty at a major Indian conglomerate also weighed on several group companies.

Equities in the emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa region rose, despite continued geopolitical uncertainty and volatility in energy prices. South African equities lifted regional returns, helped by gains in gold and platinum miners as prices of precious metals strengthened.

Equities in the emerging Latin America (LatAm) region fell. The weakness was partially driven by Brazilian equities. A leading Brazilian retailer filed for bankruptcy protection, adding to concerns around banking-sector credit quality given exposures among several lenders. The month also saw foreign outflows in Brazil following a period of early-year gains and pre-election jitters. In Mexico, rising global metal prices supported the share prices of major mining companies.

Portfolio Changes & Positioning

During the period, we increased our position in Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, an India-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets a wide range of products in India and abroad. Following a share price correction in July, we find the risk-reward ratio attractive at current valuations. At the company level, Dr Reddy’s is increasing its focus on higher-value areas, including complex generics and biosimilars. Its strong balance sheet and net cash position also provide financial flexibility.

Overall, we increased investments in the financials and communication services sectors. In terms of countries, we undertook purchases in China/Hong Kong and Brazil.

We trimmed our position in MediaTek, a Taiwan-based semiconductor company evolving into a more diversified compute-chip provider. Following strong year-to-date share-price performance, we reduced our exposure slightly to manage its active weight in the portfolio.

By sector, we reduced our exposure to information technology, utilities and industrials. Geographically, we made the biggest sales in South Korea, Taiwan and Hungary.

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.