Equity funds attract 4m euros in March

Mutual funds that invest in shares continued to attract investors in March, despite negative yields following the decline of the Stock Exchange, with net inflows now standing at some 4 million euros. Funds, which invest mostly in shares last month attracted net investments of 2.2 million euros, while diversified funds, whose investments in shares do not exceed 50% of their assets, saw net inflows of almost 1.8 million euros. All the mutual funds that invest on the capital market but one registered negative yields in March, following on from a decline witnessed in February. Equity funds last month witnessed declines of 1.2 to 4.3%, and diversified funds saw losses of 0.4% to 2.1%. Their performance was affected by the Stock Exchange corrections, especially on the SIF (financial investment companies) segment. All in all, mutual funds grew by a mere 1.1% in the first quarter, below the inflation rate, which stood at 1.5%. ZF