The main beneficiary of the continuing shift to what Morningstar calls ‘allocation funds’ in July was Carmignac, gathering €829m in the month taking its year-to-date total to €2.87bn.
Schroders also had a strong month in the multi-asset sphere, attracting €658m during the period, which is particularly impressive given its year-to-date inflows into the sector are €759m.
M&G and Baillie Gifford were third and fourth most-popular in terms of flows into multi-asset, witnessing flows of €466m and €308m respectively in July, while Mercer Global Investments brought up the rear in fifth place, absorbing €293m in the month.
Fund groups not doing so well from the trend last month were BNP Paribas and Sarisan, which saw net outflows of €178m and €288m each. They have also experienced net outflows from their multi-asset funds since the start of the year and over the past 12 months, suggesting July was not exceptional in its redemptions.
Morningstar’s monthly asset flow data echoed the IMA’s data earlier this week, with bond funds cleaning up in terms of sales.
Equity funds shed €5.3bn in the month compared to inflows of €19.48bn for bond funds, making it the asset class’ best month since 2007.
Morningstar said: “The continuing haemorrhage from equity funds in July came despite the rebound of stock markets for the second month running, with the MSCI World gaining 6.9% from 1 June to 31 July.
“The Dax and Euro Stoxx 50 also rose a soled 8.1% and 10.3% respectively during the same period. Outflows from equity funds came from across the board with no specific region or sector being singled out, arguably indicating that investors have broad concerns about the ability of global growth to support equity valuations.”
