<iframesrc=" ns.html?id="GTM-MZDVZ6&quot;" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"> Mutual fund industry raises R$24.6bn in January – ANBIMA

Boletim de Fundos de Investimentos

Mutual fund industry raises R$24.6bn in January

Investment funds raised R$24.6 billion in January, down 39% compared with the same period in 2017 (R$40.6 billion), but above the amount raised in previous years. It is worth mentioning that in early 2017 there was the expectation of lower interest rates -- confirmed by the 675 basis-points decline of the Selic rate target --, which allowed significant gains in fixed income and boosted allocation of funds to this class in portfolios. At that time, fixed-income funds raised R$35.7 billion, concentrating most of the money raised by the industry.

As for last January, interest rates were expected to remain stable at 6.75% per year through December (read here the Macroeconomic Report - In Portugueese), which restricts, to some extent, the possibility of repeating last year’s gains. Still, fixed-income funds showed good performance, raising R$12 billion, especially the fixed income/short duration sovereign and fixed income/free duration sovereign funds, which raised R$10.5 billion and R$5.9 billion, respectively. Among balanced-mixed funds, the free and macro types raised R$3.5 billion and R$3 billion, respectively.

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The portfolios’ appreciation in January sped up after January 24 -- when the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) upheld the conviction of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for corruption and money laundering --, in line with the main benchmarks such as IMA and IBOVESPA indexes. In the fixed-income portfolios, the long duration/free credit and long duration/investment grade funds rose 1.79% and 1.67% respectively, confirming the better performance of the IMA sub-indices with longer maturities (the IMA-B5+ advanced 4.95% while the IRF-M1+ gained 1.55%). Among balanced-mixed funds, the macro type was the highlight, with a 3.33% return, while the balanced-mixed/free fund, which has the largest Net Worth in this class, yielded 2.17%.

Equity funds posted the most significant returns, which ranged from 5.2% to 12.8%. The equity /free type, with the largest Net Worth in the class (R$81.2 billion), yielded 7% in January. Other highlights include equity / active index (9.57%) and equity / indexed types (10.72%).

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Prospects of stability in the Selic rate target in 2018, after a year of significant cuts in interest rates, will turn the scenario more challenging for asset managers. The likely increased volatility of indicators and assets amid uncertainties in the electoral year will add more factors to this balance of risks, and require greater efforts of all agents involved in the allocation of funds to the industry.