Equity Mutual Fund Gives 0.84% Return: Market Volatility to Remain High

as published in Bisnis Indonesia daily newspaper

Monday, 14/12/2009 00:00 WIB

Equity Mutual Fund Gives 0.84% Return

Market Volatility to Remain High

JAKARTA: Equity mutual fund in November booked an average return of 0.84%, rising from -0.95 in October.

Other open ended funds, namely balanced and fixed-income mutual funds, recorded an average return of 0.83% and 0.37%, respectively in November.

Data by PT Infovesta Utama showed 52 equity funds posted positive returns of the existing 70 equity funds, while the remaining 18 equity funds still had negative returns.

The equity fund return was still smaller than the Composite Stock Index (IHSG). The index in November jumped by 2.03%, thanks to an average share price increase of 8.75% in consumer goods sector and of 3.46% in infrastructure sector.

The same data by infovesta also told that Manulife Syariah Sektoral Amanah, Panin Dana Maksima, and Schroder Indo Equity Fund were three mutual fund products booking the highest returns among 70 equity funds (see table) in November. They were tailed by Manulife Saham Andalan and Phinisi Dana Saham.

Manulife Syariah Sektoral Amanah, Manulife Saham Andalan, and Phinisi Dana Saham are mutual fund products overseen by PT Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia.

Chief Investment Officer and Director of Manulife Aset Manajemen Raymond Gin said the company collected many stocks in consumer goods and cement sectors, thus, bolstering the returns of the company's equity fund returns, especially Manulife Syariah Sektoral Amanah return.

"We hope the capital market will grow 20% next year to give positive contribution to the mutual fund industry's performance," Raymond told last weekend.

Market volatility

He estimated the capital market in the near future would still show high volatility, so that he reminded investors to prepare themselves for the potential IHSG volatility. In the medium-term, he was optimistic the economy would keep improving as reflected by the surging cement industrial growth and automotive sales.

Senior Analyst at Infovesta Utama Rudiyanto viewed the slight equity fund return growth was attributable to the swarming number of products overseen by small-scale investment managers prioritizing portfolios with high-return shares.

"With the index growth relatively stagnant this month, it will be difficult for equity funds to give high returns, except if the investment managers are willing to spend their money on highly volatile shares."

Equity funds that have booked the highest year to date returns are Pratama Saham (162.12%), Trim Kapital Plus (143.59%), and Reksa Dana Grow-2-Prosper (131.90%). The three best-performing equity funds are tailed by Panin Dana Prima and Dana Pratama Ekuitas.

In addition to stocks, investment managers have also been aggressively sinking their overseen funds in T-bonds. As of December 8, mutual fund ownership of T-bonds reached IDR44.97 trillion, skyrocketing IDR11.86 trillion from IDR33.11 trillion in January 2009. (Bisnis/21/rni)