Tuesday April 2, 12:19 pm Eastern Time
Reuters
Stock Funds Post Gain in 1st Quarter
By Martha Slud
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock mutual funds notched up
slightly in the first quarter, with value-oriented funds and
international portfolios registering the biggest increases,
according to new data.
The average diversified U.S. stock fund rose 0.36 percent
in the first three months of the year, according to research
service Lipper Inc. These funds, with a combined $2.4 trillion
in assets, invest in a variety of sectors and account for about
three-quarters of all U.S. stock fund assets.
Including sector funds such as health and technology funds
and world stock funds, the average U.S. stock fund gained 0.78
percent, said Lipper, a division of Reuters Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: RTR.L).
Results were boosted by a 3.79 percent increase for world
equity funds in the quarter.
In comparison, the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index (^SPX - news)
slipped 0.1 percent for the quarter, while the Dow Jones
industrial average (^DJI - news) gained 3.8 percent and the tech-laden
Nasdaq Composite index (^IXIC - news) lost 5.4 percent.
The data was released late Monday. Last week, Lipper
released preliminary data for the quarter, excluding the final
day of trading on Thursday.
Diversified stock funds lost steam after rising 14.8
percent in the last three months of 2001, as fund managers and
analysts said investors were awaiting more signs of economic
recovery before plowing back into the market.
But there were some bright spots -- especially among
value-oriented funds that hunt for stocks that are considered
undervalued. These funds continued to outpace more aggressive
growth funds in a repeat of last year's trend.
Small-cap value funds, ignored during the technology-led
bull market of the late 1990s, rose 8.74 percent in the first
quarter, bringing 12-month gains to 24.7 percent, according to
Lipper.
Mid-cap value funds rose 6.39 percent in the quarter, while
large-cap value funds edged up 1.84 percent.
In contrast, small-cap growth funds slipped 2.61 percent in
the January-to-March period, mid-cap growth funds fell 2.5
percent and large-cap growth funds were down 2.87 percent.
Gold-oriented funds, buoyed by investor enthusiasm over the
volatile sector, soared 35.2 percent, bringing 12-month returns
to 69.6 percent. The niche sector has about $2.6 billion in
combined assets.
Every category of world equity funds rose in the period,
led by a 12.2 percent increase in emerging markets funds.
Among the biggest portfolios, the Fidelity Magellan fund
(FMAGX - news) slipped 1.6 percent in the quarter and the Vanguard
500 index (VFINX - news), whose results mirror the S&P 500, gained
0.24 percent.
The biggest losers were telecommunications sector funds,
down 18.4 percent as the telecom industry faces heavy debt
loads and slow revenue growth. These funds, a small sector with
only about $3.2 billion in combined assets, are down 33.9
percent for the past 12 months.
Type of Fund Net Assets ($mln) Q1 (%)
Large-Cap Growth $356,263.2 -2.87
Large-Cap Core $431,565.0 -0.36
Large-Cap Value $281,053.5 1.84
Multi-Cap Growth $167,668.4 -3.86
Multi-Cap Core $214,195.7 0.37
Multi-Cap Value $203,078.5 2.64
Mid-Cap Growth $93,797.6 -2.50
Mid-Cap Core $48,752.1 3.39
Mid-Cap Value $41,957.7 6.39
Small-Cap Growth $46,662.0 -2.61
Small-Cap Core $55,310.2 4.57
Small-Cap Value $66,405.0 8.74
S&P 500 Index Objective $235,817.4 0.09
Equity Income $93,843.7 2.74
Specialty Diversified Equity $3,150.2 2.48
U.S. Diversified Equity Funds $2,339,520.5 0.36
Type of Fund Net Assets ($mln) Q1 (%)
Health/Biotechnology $45,324.9 -7.68
Natural Resources $6,628.0 11.27
Science & Technology $57,503.6 -7.61
Telecommunications $3,253.3 -18.37
Utility $18,365.9 -1.72
Financial Services $15,038.2 4.37
Real Estate $13,537.9 7.96
Specialty/Miscellaneous $5,798.0 4.92
Sector Equity Funds $165,449.8 -2.19
Type of Fund Assets ($mln) Q1
(%)
Gold $2,571.3 35.20
Global $119,860.8 0.66
Global Small-Cap $15,162.6 2.62
International $180,899.0 1.20
International Small-Cap $7,737.0 4.55
European Region $15,986.7 0.44
Pacific Region $3,388.6 5.72
Japanese $1,823.3 2.19
Pacific Ex Japan $3,035.7 11.98
China Region $607.6 4.88
Emerging Markets $33,684.8 12.24
Latin American Funds $1,187.4 9.43
World Equity Funds $385,944.8 3.79
Total Equity Funds $2,890,915.0 0.78
Source: Lipper. |
