The S&P 500 was the best performing global stock market in July, according to data from FE Analytics.
The US index returned 3.69 per cent, despite the shares of technology companies Facebook and Twitter suffering 20 per cent falls.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index, made up of blue-chip companies across the Eurozone, was next best, returning 3.54 per cent.
The only major index to produce a negative return during the month was the Hang Seng, which lost 0.45 per cent as investors turned against companies exposured to China amid fears about the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
The MSCI World Index gained 3.15 per cent, far ahead of the returns achieved by the FTSE 100 at 1.52 per cent and the FTSE All Share at 1.29 per cent.
China was the worst performing fund sector, losing 2.7 per cent, while the Europe Ex-UK sector was the best performer, returning 3.7 per cent.
The continued rise of the oil price helped the MFM Junior Oils fund become the best performer in the IA sectors in July, returning 18 per cent, while the economic travails of Japan meant the Invesco Perpetual Japanese Smaller Companies fund was the worst performer, losing 5.97 per cent.
Ben Yearsley, director at Shore Capital, said: "Despite Europe being the best performing sector, it was Latin American funds that dominated in July. It is funny how often the sector with the biggest outflows leads to the best performance. Fund flow figure clearly are a contrary indicator of performance.
"MFM Junior Oils beat the lot though with an 18 per cent return in July. Many oil minnows severely lagged the sustained oil price rise and are only now playing catch up as oil seems to be stabilising in the $70+ range for brent. At the foot of the table, China and gold struggled."
david.thorpe@ft.com
