The asset flow data for August showed outflows of €2.13bn for long terms funds. Bond funds suffered most, with investors withdrawing €7.93bn over the month. Equity funds saw redemptions of €683m. Asset allocation and alternative funds remained in positive territory, with inflows of €4.31bn and €1.44bn respectively. Money market funds reversed a long spell of outflows, attracting €7.85bn over the month, in spite of a threatened clamp-down by the European Commission.
The most popular asset classes over the month were the European Large Cap Blend Equity, EUR Flexible Allocation – Global and Global Large Cap Blend Equity. European large cap funds saw inflows of €1.6bn as more promising European economic data brought investors back to the asset class. EUR Flexible Allocation – Global and Global Large Cap Blend Equity saw inflows of €1.14bn and €772m respectively.
US large cap growth equity was the least popular developed market equity asset class with outflows of €680m, as investors finally decided that valuations were over-stretched. However, the real loser over the month was emerging markets. Local currency bonds saw outflows of €1.442bn, while global emerging market equity saw outflows of €1.389bn. Asian bond and equities suffered by association and also saw significant outflows.
Unsurprisingly, some of the flagship bond funds saw significant outflows – the PIMCO Total Return Bond fund lost €1.1bn in assets, while the Franklin Templeton Global Bond fund, lost €532m. Carmignac Patrimoine saw outflows of €455m, while Standard Life GARS saw only minor outflows despite the departure of Euan Munro, the architect of the strategy, to Aviva Investors. Among the fund groups, BlackRock and JPMorgan continued to see inflows in August, buoyed by their global and European funds.
