The assets of worldwide managed funds have experienced a flat 2003 first quarter, with net assets declining marginally from their level at the end of 2002 by 0.06 per cent to US$11.21 trillion.
TheInvestment and Financial Services Association(IFSA) says this decline was largely due to the worldwide equity market decline of 5.5 per cent over the March quarter, as measured by the MSCI World Index (US).
The Investment Company Institute (ICI) figures on managed fund asset flows show assets in the US fund marketplace fell two per cent in the first quarter, while assets of other countries collectively rose 2.5 per cent.
However, the ICI says that strength in fund assets outside the US reflected weakness in the US dollar, which moved lower against most currencies.
Measured in local currencies, fund assets declined over the first quarter in the majority of countries, including nine of the ten largest.
IFSA chief executive Richard Gilbert says that Australian managed fund net assets increased by 5.9 per cent or US$21 billion to US$377 billion.
“This was however mainly due to the Australian dollar appreciating by 7.1 per cent against the US dollar over the March 2003 quarter,” Gilbert says.
According to IFSA, the Australian managed funds market maintained its ranking, currently the fifth largest in the world.
The ICI figures show net sales of mutual funds were US$13 billion in the first quarter of 2003, down from US$153 billion in the fourth quarter of 2002.
However, net sales of bond funds were a robust US$87 billion in the first quarter of 2003 and represented 3.6 per cent of assets of those 27 countries reporting net flow data.
