A total of 241 mutual funds held by 23 fund management firms in China lost 35.47 billion yuan (US$5.19 billion) in the first quarter of this year, according to TX Investment Consulting Co.

Equity funds, funds operated by Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors and capital guarantee funds suffered losses in the period, while bond funds and currency funds were profitable, TX Investment said. Forty-six bond funds earned a total of 662 million yuan.

Compared to last year, 131 equity funds cut their holdings to 81.86 percent of their portfolio at the end of March, a drop of 3.59 percentage points from a quarter earlier. They sold real estate, finance and steel shares.