‘Friendly’ markets a boon for European fund flows

Morningstar data shows European equity funds saw net inflows of €3.4bn (£2.9bn, $3.6bn) in February with equity ETFs performing well on the back of positive markets, with net inflows of €6.4bn.

'Friendly' markets a boon for European fund flows

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The new figures, published by Morningstar on Friday, found fund investors took a more positive stance on the prospect for the continent “on the back of friendly equity markets”.

As a result, long-term funds saw net inflows of €43.8bn, an increase on January’s €35.1bn and the highest level of inflows seen in funds in one month since April 2015.   

Bond funds also returned to favour and enjoyed the highest inflows of €25.1bn.

Investor interest for emerging market bond funds was again strong after a short post-US election scare with hard-currency funds benefitting the most, taking in €2.24bn.

However, French-domiciled funds took a hit and accounted for the large outflows of €4.14bn in money market funds.

Ali Masarwah, Emea editorial director for Morningstar, said: “Despite the large overall inflows in February, investors continued to sell European assets, regardless of the fact that European equities outperformed their US counterparts in the past months and the positive growth signals from European economies.”

February also saw several fund groups improve their performance, Masarwah added, with Franklin Templeton seeing its first positive month of inflows since November 2014, Aberdeen fund outflows were also lower with M&G reporting its strongest month of flows since May 2013.

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