European fund sales recovered in July, according to latest statistics from Lipper Fund Market Information (Lipper FMI), reaching €22bn. Year to date, European fund sales now stand at €168bn.
While bond sales more than doubled from the previous month to reach €15bn, with global emerging markets bond funds leading the charge, equity sales dropped from €1.4bn to €600m.
“Even though stock markets rose globally, a reminder of the allure of equity investment, they proved to be a fickle friend,” says Lipper FMI. “Investors were not beguiled by the upturn and contributed less than half as much to equity products in July than in June.”
Another drain on resources, so to speak, was French investors, who pulled €3bn out of funds in July 2010, taking quarterly French redemptions to €39bn. German investors, however, counteracted this wintry French pessimism exactly by piling a summery €3bn into investment funds in July.
“While still trailing UK market sales, such an improvement in German activity is significant as it could signal the start of a more deep-seated recovery in the European industry,” says Lipper FMI.
Net sales in the UK totalled €3.7bn, while ‘international’ sales – sales of cross-border funds – was by far with most significant category with €16.2bn of net inflows.
In this uneven climate, Franklin Templeton emerged as the top group with net inflows of €2.6bn. On the equity side, Aberdeen Asset Management triumphed with net sales of €900m – more than the industry as a whole. Of this, €390m went into the firm’s global emerging markets fund.
On the more buoyant bond fund side, Franklin Templeton tied with Pimco, which this morning has announced that it is moving into the UK retail market with Pimco Select, a Ucits III bond fund range, in partnership with Aegon. In July 2010 Pimco and Franklin Templeton captured €2.1bn apiece of net bond fund sales.
Fiona Rintoul, editorial director
©2010 funds europe
