Greek mutual fund investors pulled cash out of domestic equity and bond funds in February, switching into money market funds for safety and into funds investing abroad for diversification. Data released yesterday by the Institutional Investors’ Association showed the industry’s assets under management totaled –24.7 billion, from –24.8 billion in January.

“It should be seen as a defensive stance by fund managers. Seeing the rally in equities since the start of the year, they took some profits and raised cash in their portfolios,” said an analyst at a local brokerage.

Greek stocks had gained 8.3 percent between the start of the year and February 26, when they began to slide.

Overall inflows reached –358.6 million in February, two-thirds of it in mutual funds investing abroad.

Ranked by returns, the top five outperformers among the 61 mutual funds investing in Greek equities in the year to February 28 were Hermes Pioneer, up 8.05 percent, ING Dynamic Growth (up 7.58 percent), Egnatia Athena (up 7.38 percent), Millennium Mid-Caps (up 6.55 percent) and Bank of Cyprus Growth (up 6.17 percent).

The average return in this category was 2.68 percent.

The top three performers of the 40 stock funds investing abroad were Marfin Global Equities, with a return of 3.56 percent, Eurobank US Growth fund (up 2.95 percent) and Alpha Bank Select Southeast Europe (up 2.32 percent).

The average return in this category, which must invest at least 65 percent of their assets abroad, was a negative 1.03 percent.

Shares in Greece’s eight listed closed-end funds traded at discounts to their underlying net asset value (NAV) in February, Association of Institutional Investors data showed yesterday.

The association said investment funds traded at discounts ranging from 11.17 to 25.22 percent, with the sector’s weighted average discount at 19.07 percent.

The listed funds had a combined –389 million euros in assets under management, down from –395 million in January.

Closed-end funds, unlike open-end mutual funds, have a set number of shares. They trade like other securities.

The sector’s average return on net asset value (NAV) was 1.38 percent on the year to end-February, underperforming the 2.5 percent gain in the Athens bourse’s benchmark general index. (Reuters)