November 9, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 3,1423

LONDON, Nov 8: Total investment fund assets worldwide dropped at the end of this year’s second quarter as stock markets remained weak, although assets held in bond and money market funds grew, according to data published on Friday.

Net assets fell by 1.6 per cent to $11.65 trillion in the second quarter, down from $11.84 trillion in the previous quarter, according to data collected from 36 countries by the Brussels-based Federation Europeenne des Fonds et Societes d’Investissement (FEFSI).

Equity investments suffered amid weak stock markets, falling by more than eight per cent to $4.864 trillion in the second quarter from $5.285 trillion in the first quarter, FEFSI said. Bond fund assets, meanwhile, rose to $2.359 trillion from $2.220 trillion over the same period.

Money market fund assets rose to $3.026 trillion in the second quarter from $2.972 in the previous quarter, FEFSI said.

As many fund assets are valued in dollars, the fall in the dollar over the quarter moderated the drop in assets, although the asset fall was sharper when funds in countries were measured by domestic currencies, FEFSI said.

Net sales of equity funds, which exclude cash withdrawals, sank into the red in the second quarter, falling by $16 billion in the second quarter from a net rise of $98 billion in the first quarter.

Regionally, total assets in US mutual funds fell by 6.1 per cent over the quarter to $6.631 trillion. In Europe, assets in equivalent funds as measured in euros fell by 6.6 per cent over the same period.

The total number of funds globally fell to 52,428 in the second quarter, down from 53,111 in the previous quarter.—Reuters