Equity Funds Take Lead in Q1 as Index Upbeat | The Jakarta Post
(The Insider Stories) - Those investing in equity funds might have been cheerful at increased returns, some even higher than the benchmark composite index, which surged by two digits in the first quarter.
The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) closed at an all-time high of 4,940.99 on March 28, 14.5 percent up in the year to date, surpassing the 12.94 percent recorded in the full year of 2012.
As the index rises, equity funds report an average 15.2 percent return in the year to date, according to figures from research company PT Infovesta Utama. Some saw higher than average returns, led by Pratama Equity, managed by PT Pratama Capital Assets Management Indonesia, with 37.58 percent.
Total mutual funds managed reached IDR189.38 trillion (US$19.5 billion) as of March 8, according to figures from the Financial Services Authority (OJK).
Average return of equity funds is also high compared to two other funds, including balanced funds with 9.38 percent.
Despite slower than average growth in returns compared to equity funds, several fund managers managed to maintain their balanced funds giving returns higher than average, such as PT Kresna Asset management with its product called Kresna Flexima, giving 33.13 percent return year to date.
Meanwhile, fixed income funds gave only 0.55 percent in yield in average year to date. The best performer in fixed income fund — which put money in bonds — is Nikko Indah Nusantara Dua, managed by PT Nikko Securities Indonesia, with 3.64 percent return year to date.
Analysts have said that fixed income bonds would be underperforming this year due to low benchmark interest rate of 5.75. Meanwhile, investors investing in equity funds are expecting high returns as the index is expected to touch the 5,000 level.
“At this moment, investing in stocks is more attractive. Yield in government bonds is very low. We will not be too aggressive in government bonds particularly due to low interest rate, however, we are considering corporate bonds,” PT Mandiri Manajemen Investasi chief investment officer Priyo Santoso said.
One of Mandiri Manajemen Investasi’s fixed income funds, called Tugu Mandiri Mantap, gave 2.15 percent in return year to date, according to figures from Infovesta. Meanwhile, the company’s equity funds outperformed the JCI. One of the equity funds, Mandiri Saham Dinamis recorded 19.75 percent return in the first quarter.
Mandiri Manajemen Investasi reported IDR21 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as of March 11. The company is targeting IDR30 trillion in AUM by the end of the year, of which IDR9.3 trillion is expected from equity funds.
Mandiri Manajemen Investasi president director Muhammad Hanif said the company put investors’ funds on stocks that showed high liquidity, besides considering fundamental performance, in an attempt to gain high return.
“We are focusing on easy-to-sell-stocks. We also rebalance our portfolio once a month,” Hanif said.
In its small-medium capitalization focused Mandiri Investa Ekuitas Dinamis, Hanif said, the company set liquidity standard for medium stocks with trading worth Rp 10 billion a day and small stocks with at least IDR1 billion in trading. Mandiri Investa Ekuitas Dinamis gave 18.4 percent return year to date, according to figures from Infovesta.
“Small and medium stocks are interesting, because they usually make high increase in particular time, such as after quarterly financial report, and then get stable,” Hanif said.
