Year-to-date returns are 20pc from European equity funds versus 7.75pc from North America, but the US could lure investors back
EUROPEAN FUNDS have delivered strong returns to Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund investors, the latest industry data shows. Year-to-date returns from the five European equity funds authorised for MPF investments returned 20.08 per cent to the end of September, as against just 7.75 per cent for North America.
But early signs are that small investors may be turning their attention away from Europe, under the weight of concerns on the outlook for interest rates, and back to the United States.
Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA) data also shows that aggregate net inflows into emerging market funds registered for distribution to retail investors in Hong Kong totalled US$2.04billion, which accounted for 56.7 per cent of total inflows.
Euro funds attracted net inflows of just US$552.87million, or 15.3 per cent of the total.
Although these figures are the latest available, the data on inflows is dated (gathered in August), cautions HKIFA executive director Sally Wong. More recent anecdotal evidence, she says, suggests that since the sell-off of emerging markets in May and June, the flow of retail funds has gone in two directions.
