Funds flow poor in December quarter

Funds flow into the retail managed fund sector for the three months ending December 31 was lower than expected due to climbing interest rates and concerns about the Y2K bug.

Wednesday, January 26th 2000, 12:00AM

Funds flow into the retail managed fund sector for the three months ending December 31 was lower than expected due to climbing interest rates and concerns about the Y2K bug.

Research house IPAC Securities says the overall net funds flow for the quarter was $182 million, compared to $309 million for the previous quarter.

"The December quarter was a disappointing quarter for the sector," IPAC says.

Over the quarter the top five managers by net funds flow represented more than 100 per cent of the total net funds flow as many managers had negative quarters.

IPAC says the key trends for the industry were that:

Effective internal distribution networks continue to provide strong funds flows, (notably Tower, ASB, WestpacTrust and AMP).

However, ANZ and BNZ who were big winners last quarter recorded negative funds flow this quarter.

ASB Bank, which has a number of new funds, supplanted NZ Funds at the top of the funds flow table.

Top Five Managers		Bottom five Managers
ASB Bank	68.70m	BNZ	-12.69m
NZ Funds Management	51.50	AXA	-14.53
AMP	38.52	Macquarie	-14.82
WestpacTrust	32.93	ANZ	-29.18
Armstrong Jones	28.62	Royal & SunAlliance	-40.64

Where did the money go?

Investors channelled $202 million of their money into diversified funds during the quarter. The strong growth in this sector highlights the effectiveness of the mainstream banks and their ability to encourage people to save regularly.

International equities, regional equities and New Zealand equities were the next biggest sectors attracting $107.5 million, $50.9 million and $12.8 million respectively.

IPAC says the growth here is a sign that investors are seeking the high returns that growth assets return compared to income producing assets.

Who's the biggest?
In the overall stakes Tower remains the biggest manager with $2.03 billion under management, followed by AMP and Royal & SunAlliance with $1.72 billion and $1.71 billion respectively. During the quarter three managers, NZ Funds, AXA and WestpacTrust cleared the $1 billion mark.

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