Income fund inflows up
Greek mutual fund investors pulled cash out of stock and international money market funds in December, while inflows were seen in domestic growth and income funds, the Association of Institutional Investors said yesterday. Overall net inflows reached 139 million euros. The industry’s total assets under management came to 31.6 billion euros, up from 31.3 billion in November and up 4.0 percent year-on-year. Domestic stock funds had net outflows of 15.2 million euros while the average return in 2004 was 10.23 percent. Of the category’s 68 stock funds, only two outperformed the benchmark general share index with returns higher than 23.08 percent last year. Ranked by returns, the two outperformers were Alpha index fund, up 25.27 percent, and Egnatia Theseus FTSE/ASE 20, with gains of 24.46 percent. The top three performers out of the 38 stock funds investing abroad were Alpha Trust Emerging Europe, with a return of 36.42 percent, Interamerican International Opportunities, returning 17.6 percent, and Eurobank Dynamic Growth, with 17.06 percent. The average return in this category of funds, which must invest at least 65 percent of their assets abroad, was 2.82 percent. In 2004, the average balanced fund return was 8.64 percent. Money market funds were up 1.77 percent and bond funds returned 2.53 percent on average. In December, the industry numbered 26 management companies, down from 29 earlier in the year. They ran a total of 262 mutual funds. (Reuters)
