BRATISLAVA, January 13, (WEBNOVINY) — The trend of outflow of investments from mutual funds in Slovakia continued at the end of last year. Mutual funds managed by members of the Slovak Association of Asset Management Companies (SASS) in December showed negative net sales of 77.3 million euros. The sector of collective investment last year only reported positive net sales only in January, April, and May. In the remaining months, redemptions exceeded sales of shares of mutual funds. The highest negative net sales were recorded in August, amounting to 230 million euros.
The behavior of investors on the market of collective investment last year was mainly influenced by impacts of the financial crisis as well as the fight of Slovak banks for investments of clients. Nervousness among investors and departure from more risky assets resulted primarily from fluctuations on financial markets, in particular decline on stock markets. „The factors that most contributed to increased anxiety were mainly due to uncertainty and concerns over a solution to the European debt crisis,“ Zuzana Janovicova, strategy and sales manager at VUB Asset Management told SITA news agency.
Another factor to influence the behavior of investors has been the fight of Slovak banks for client investments. „The product offer of banks in 2011 was rich in time deposits with varying fixation period and interest rates that were higher than historical appreciation in money market funds. This also meant that money was moved from mutual funds, especially from money market funds, to other products,“ says PR specialist with SLSP Asset Management Zuzana Kardelisova.
Net asset value of mutual funds at the end of December 2011, according to SASS was 3.83 billion euros, representing a month-a decrease of 1.9 percent. At the end of 2010, net asset value of mutual funds exceeded 4.55 billion euros. Investors held most of their money at the end of the year in money market funds, with net asset value of 1.276 billion euros. Compared with the end of November, the volume of assets in this type of funds decreased by 6.7 percent.
Investors directed the second highest amount to bond funds, where the net asset value amounted to 522.6 million euros. Mixed funds reported net asset value of 480.7 million euros and equity funds 407 million euros. Net value of assets in funds from other categories accounted for 359 million euros.
SITA
