RSS Feed

Related Articles

Related Categories

Investors attracted to Specialist and Emerging Markets

5th February 2007 Print
Barclays Stockbrokers today revealed its best selling funds for the past twelve months – and figures show that, like 2005, 2006 was both a bumper year for Specialist and Emerging Market investments, as well as Income-based funds.

Investor confidence in these areas over the last twelve months also contributed to a significant increase in assets invested – with over two thirds (67 per cent) more being invested in the top 20 funds in 2006 than in 2005.

Investors were clearly attracted to the long term growth opportunities offered through the Specialist and Emerging Markets sectors, from which eight of the Top 20 funds purchased in Barclays Stockbrokers Funds Market came last year. In particular, Specialist funds focused on Commodities such as Blackrock Merrill Lynch’s Gold and General and JP Morgan Natural Resources were popular in 2006, with the five-year performance on these funds 225 per cent and 356 per cent respectively.

During the same twelve months, Income-based funds – particularly Fidelity Moneybuilder Income and M&G High Interest - also dominated Funds Market sales, significantly contributing to the investments across the Money Market and UK Corporate Bond sectors in Stockbrokers Fund Market.

Philip Northey, Director, Barclays Stockbrokers, commented: “The Specialist and Global Emerging Markets sectors dominated our clients’ fund purchases in 2006. In particular funds with Commodities or Asian/Japanese exposure proved popular among our investors. The considerable interest in these investments was obviously generated by the high performance, but it was, in part, also due to the high market profile of these sectors throughout the first half of the year. The popularity of these funds also led us to introduce Investment Notes targeting Chinese, Japanese and Commodities sectors.”

Northey added “The considerable interest in Income-based funds was an indicator that clients with higher cash balances were using these funds as an alternative to interest earnings.”

The analysis which is based on sales of funds in 2006 via Barclays Stockbrokers Funds Market also revealed that the average investment size in the Top 20 funds ranged from just under £1,655 to over £86,000, with an average value of more than £3,600. This compares favourably with 2005, which saw investments span a range of between £1,600 to just over £5,000, with an average investment size of £3,340.

Northey concluded: “Our clients clearly recognise the long term growth opportunities, diversification and cash provisioning that funds represent, and we believe these particular funds and sectors will continue to be popular throughout the forthcoming ISA season and beyond.”