European mutual funds attracted €109.6 billion in the first half of this year, up from €83.2 billion over the same period last year, data from Lipper shows.
Though a monthly breakdown of fund flows shows that “the tables turned dramatically in June”, when investors fled mutual funds. As a result, flows in the second quarter were just €300 million.
The increase in investor appetite was short-lived and flows into equity funds, which saw inflows at the start of the year, turned negative. In Q2, equity funds suffered outflows of €7.8 billion.
Lipper attributes the boost in activity in Q1 to the 158 new equity funds that were launched during Q2.
“Nevertheless, during the first half of 2013, new launch activity was dominated by bond funds, reflecting the demand of investors for new products within this sector, mainly driven by the chase for yield,” the report says.
©2013 funds europe
