There were only six new investors joining the existing investors in mutual funds on the Romanian market last month, bringing the total to 61,793. This was shown by the statistics of the National Union of Collective Investment Bodies (UNOPC).
Though the statistics are not always accurate, since an investor is counted more than once when investing in more than one fund, the increase in the number of investors demonstrates the level of interest in such an instrument by those that have money to invest.
The uproar that surrounded the bankruptcies of mutual funds such as FNI or FMOA seems still to be lingering in the memories of potential investors, even though investment in funds can produce higher profits than banking deposits.
Investment funds on the Romanian market saw only 1.2% of growth in the average value of their shares last month, a level lower than that for July, which saw 1.5%. Yields from investments in these funds again remained above inflation, which stayed at 0.5%.
The main cause for the lower yields from mutual funds was due to the halt in Stock Exchange growth, as most funds have the majority of their assets invested in listed securities. The BET index, which monitors the performance of the most liquid shares on the Stock Exchange, fell by 4% last month. Most funds investing in stocks saw their shares follow suit as a result of this trend. Active Dinamic shed 1.8%, Omninvest, managed by SIRA, lost 1.4% and Certinvest-managed Intercapital shares dropped 0.8% last month.
The top performer last month was a fund that invests solely in fixed-income instruments, and not a stock market fund. The Orizont fund, launched by Certinvest this spring, saw its shares go up by 1.6% last month. Orizont invests almost three-quarters of its assets in bank bonds and municipal bonds. Since its launch in May 2004, the fund has successfully attracted more than 100 investors and has reached a net asset value of 3.2bn ROL.
The decline in interest rates on the monetary market last month had no visible impact on yields from funds investing in fixed-income instruments. Many monetary investments by the funds come with high interest rates and longer maturities, such that a decline in interest rates on the market does immediately affect yields. Monetary fund yields stayed similar to those in July. BCR Classic, Simfonia 1 and Stabilo saw 1.3% growth, while the Tezaur and Vanguard Protector investors gained 1.2%.
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