Hong Kong fund managers sold US$3.78 billion worth of funds to investors in the third quarter, up 41.2 per cent from the previous three months, according to the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA). The strong growth was mainly driven by an 84.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in the sale of equity funds valued at a total of US$2.66 billion, or 70.3 per cent of total sales, according to HKIFA figures. Emerging market funds ranked top during the quarter with gross sales of US$577.67 million, which accounted for 15 per cent of all fund sales. Japanese equity funds also attracted investor attention with gross sales rising more than fourfold to US$229.66 million from the previous quarter's total of US$50.11 million. Bond funds were also in demand, recording sales growth of 33 per cent. Sally Wong, spokesperson for the HKIFA, said the growth in fund sales during the third quarter was generated by a number of positive economic factors. 'The solid US economic growth, the measured pace of US interest rate increases, and oil prices that had come off from the peak in August, all helped to enable fund sales to show much resilience in the third quarter,' she said. Ms Wong, however, warned of an uncertain outlook for the fourth quarter. 'While global growth is expected to continue at a robust pace and inflation expectations are generally well-anchored, there are major uncertainties that continue to plague the market,' she said. 'The volatility in oil prices and their possible second-round effects on inflation, the pace of interest rates rises in the US, and a tightening in monetary policy in other countries, as well as concerns about a flu pandemic are bound to reduce risk appetite.'
