Mutual funds keep their money in the bank until state lists its “gems”

Managers say only the listing of companies in which the state holds stakes could generate a rise in mutual fund investments on the Stock Exchange, currently at a 240 million-RON (57 million-euro) low, 25% less than what they used to invest before the outbreak of the financial crisis.
Whilst in the summer of 2007, when the Stock Exchange was at a high, mutual funds placed 40% of their net assets in shares, now, after the market’s leading shares became 45% to 70% cheaper, SIF (Financial Investment Companies) managers have an exposure of just 5% of their assets to these instruments.
The 53 mutual funds continue to be marginal players on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, investing only 240 million RON in shares even though they manage 4.6 billion RON in net assets, and favouring instead conservative placements such as bank deposits and securities, in which they invested over 3.6 billion RON, according to end-of-May statistics released by the Association of Fund Managers (AAF).