Offshore mutual funds back to Southeast Asia
Offshore mutual funds back to Southeast Asia
NEW YORK (Dow Jones): Offshore mutual funds that invest in Southeast Asia made a comeback last week.
In Singapore, mutual funds surged 9.47 percent on average during the week ended Friday, according to Lipper Analytical Services Inc. The government's decision to let private fund managers oversee US$6 billion of its reserves to help stimulate growth in the fund management industry helped bolster returns, Lipper said.
Mutual funds also benefited from the government's announcement of cost-cutting measures designed to improve competitiveness.
Indonesian funds were up an average 8.76 percent for the week and funds that invest in South Korea jumped 8.54 percent.
Southeast Asian funds claimed all 10 spots on Lipper's Overseas Fund Table. Lipper tracks weekly performance of 7,168 funds domiciled outside of the U.S.
Despite last week's rebound, one-year performance for Southeast Asian funds remains in the red. Singapore funds were off 11.53 percent, Indonesia funds were down 39.77 percent and South Korea funds dropped 1.11 percent on average over the past year, Lipper said.
In neighboring Russia, mutual funds continued to get pummeled by foiled government attempts to restructure short-term debts. "Russia continues to suffer as the government seems to have made no progress in the restructuring of its defaulted debt for its 1999 budget," Lipper said. Russian funds were down 1.18 percent on average last week, and were off 84.14 percent over the past year.
Following are last week's top ten performing funds:
Fidelity Funds Indonesia 23.09%
The Matrix New Summit Fund 18.61%
Fidelity Funds Thailand 18.54%
Barclays Asian Selection Funds - Thailand Fund 16.90%
GT Korean Growth Fund, Class A Shares 15.91%
Credit Suisse Equity Fund - Korea 15.60%
Indocam Asian Portfolios - Indonesia, Class A Shrs 15.06%
Fidelity Funds Singapore 15.01%
Indocam Asian Portfolios - Indonesia, Class B Shrs 14.99%
Barclays Asian Selection Fund - ASEAN Fund 14.76%