June was an especially tough month for ASX shares and the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). But what about the BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF (ASX: NDQ)? This exchange-traded fund (ETF) doesn't even hold any ASX shares within it. So how did it go last month?
So the NDQ ETF is the only ASX exchange-traded fund that solely covers the NASDAQ-100 (INDEXNASDAQ: NDX) Index. The Nasdaq is one of the two major US stock exchanges. It tends to house the US's tech companies, which gives it a noticeable weighting bias towards this sector. Indeed, more than half of NDQ's weighting is towards tech shares.
So how did the NDQ ETF perform over June?
Well, it wasn't a fantastic month for investors. NDQ units started the month off at a price of $28.23. But this ETF finished up on Thursday at $26.71. That's a loss of 5.38% for June. Interestingly, the index that the NDQ ETF tracks – the Nasdaq 100 – fell by far more, around 9%. So this difference can probably be explained by currency fluctuations between the Aussie and US dollars.
Now, that 5.38% loss might not be what NDQ investors wanted out of June. But it's arguably not a terrible result, considering the ASX 200 index fell by a far greater 8.9%.
But still, rec is red. And it wasn't a good month for Nasdaq investors by any means.
The NDQ ETF is dominated by the largest US tech shares. Indeed, its largest five holdings are none other than Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL). All familiar names, I'm sure. Together, this 'famous five' make up more than 40% of NDQ's entire portfolio weighting.
None of these five companies recorded gains over June. The losses range from Alphabet's 4.33% loss (for the GOOGL Class A shares) to Amazon's loss of 11.65%.
So with so much red ink within NDQ's underlying portfolio, it's perhaps no wonder that this ASX ETF recorded a loss last month. Like with ASX tech shares over June, it's likely that Nasdaq tech shares came under pressure from concerns over inflation and higher interest rates. Tech shares often get hit harder than most in this kind of investing environment.
So after June's disappointing returns for the NDQ ETF, no doubt investors will be hoping for a better July.
