fixed income funds hit new inflows record
Fixed income funds posted a new weekly inflows record of $7.57bn in the second week of March, despite signs that returns in some bond sectors have started to falter under the recent flood of fresh money.
Fixed income funds posted a new weekly inflows record of $7.57bn in the second week of March, despite signs that returns in some bond sectors have started to falter under the recent flood of fresh money.
EFAMA’s stats for January show positive net fund sales in Europe for the first time since the start of last summer.
2011 was neither a vintage year for markets nor, as weve found out this week, was it one of product expansion with a contraction in the number of available funds for only a second time in the past decade.
Equity funds saw monthly inflows for the first time since August 2011 in January, but investors are still overwhelmingly showing a preference for bond funds, with the asset class seeing its highest monthly sales since October 2010.
Value seekers and profit takers pulled $6bn out of US Equity Funds last week as they steered money into riskier sectors such as high yield bonds and frontier markets.
Emerging Market bond funds saw record inflows in the first week of February, as their equity counterparts also witnessed continued favour with investors, according to EPFR Global.
Emerging Market equity funds have enjoyed the best start to the year, in terms of fund flows, since 2006 as investors’ risk appetite finally returned to the table.
Popularity of emerging markets equity and bond funds surged last week after the Federal Reserve in the US signalled it would keep interest rates at rock-bottom for another three years.
European investors sought no shelter for their cash in mutual funds in 2011, with outflows for the year totalling 119bn across equity, bond and money market funds.
China Equity Funds posted their biggest weekly inflow in more than two years last week, as investor sentiment towards the eurozone debt crisis and its successful resolution swung back towards positive.
Investors, put off by continued fears over the instability of the eurozone, are spurning European equity funds in favour of fixed interest, according to the latest investment trends report from Skandia.
Investors maintained their risk-off stance in the first week of the New Year, with inflows into US bond funds and high yield bond funds suggesting the continued pursuit of yield.