The value of funds under the Qualified Foreign Institutional
Investor scheme dropped 12.93 percent last month due to stock drops
amid concerns over a worldwide economic slump, according to the
Lipper Fund Market Insight Report released yesterday.
The decline compared with the average slump of 11.62 percent for
domestic A-share mutual funds, according to Lipper.
The 20 QFII fund management firms tracked by Lipper reported
that assets shrank to US$7.68 billion in January partly due to a
massive withdrawal by cautious investors.
Business sentiment was hurt greatly, with all major stock
markets going down. The Chinese mainland bourses, which gave
stellar performances last year, might continue to be fragile, said
Lipper, a fund-analysis unit of Reuters.
"Don't miss the chance to cash-out on the market," suggested
Zhou Liang, China research head at Lipper. "When the market is so
volatile, it is most safe to keep the money in the pocket."
Hang Seng's China Enterprises Index plummeted 21.93 percent and
the Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 index dropped 13.45 percent in
January.
Meanwhile, the six-month return of QFII funds was 3.68 percent,
almost the same as the Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 index, according to
Lipper.
(Shanghai Daily February 14, 2008)
