Equity funds gain entire year's worth of interest in January, on FP

Equity funds boasted the strongest performances among mutual funds in January, owing to Fondul Proprietatea (FP) listing, as well as to a better-than-expected trend of banking stocks.
BCR Expert, OTP Avantis equity funds and OTP Balansis diversified fund lead in mutual funds' ranking in terms of yields, bringing investors profits of above 9% in the first month of this year.
The solid performance the three funds reported in January was significantly helped by FP shares, which, once the Fund was listed on the BSE, have been valued at the market price in funds' portfolios.
The three funds have bought FP stock ever since 2009, from the grey market, ahead of floatation on the BSE, with FP shares being valued in the portfolio at the acquisition price. The valuation gap between the Bourse and acquisition prices has led to an increase, in some cases as high as over 100%, of FP stock value in funds' portfolio.
Besides FP floatation, the start of the year also meant a better-than-expected trend of banking stocks.