What dragged the AMP share price down 13% in June?

The AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) share price was up 10% for the calendar year when the closing bell rang on 31 May.

Then June rolled in.

Over the course of the month, the AMP share price fell 12.8%, ending June trading for 96 cents.

To be fair, it wasn’t just the ASX 200 wealth management company that came under heavy selling pressure in June.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped 8.9% over the month. And financial shares did it even tougher, as witnessed by the 11.9% drop in the S&P/ASX 200 Financials Index (ASX: XFJ).

What headwinds was the company battling?

The AMP share price took a beating last month along with other financial companies as investors digested the reality of aggressive tightening from the world’s central banks.

June saw the US Federal Reserve boost the official rate by an outsized 0.75%, with chair Jerome Powell indicating a series of rate hikes to come.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also came through with a 0.50% rate hike here, also surprising to the upside.

But some of the company’s top executives appeared to believe that the retreating AMP share price was overdone and represented a good buying opportunity.

As my colleague James Mickleboro reported, independent non-executive director Mike Hirst bought 100,000 shares at the beginning of June in a couple of on-market trades. Hirst paid an average of $1.097 per share.

Two other independent non-executive directors – Kate McKenzie and Michael Sammells – also put more skin in the game. They each bought 50,000 AMP shares priced at around $1.10.

AMP is currently trading for $1.01 per share.

AMP share price snapshot

Since the closing bell on 30 June, the AMP shares have gained 5.2%, well outpacing the 0.9% gain posted by the ASX 200.

Year-to-date shares in the wealth manager are up 1.0%.

The post What dragged the AMP share price down 13% in June? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• ASX bank shares look out, AMP has new tech under the hood
• Down 10% in a month, here’s the latest for the AMP share price
• Will Australia plunge into a recession?
• Guess how much insiders have been spending on AMP shares?

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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