Globally, mutual funds recorded US$85 billion in net flows in the fourth quarter of 2011, however it was all into money market funds.
According to data compiled by the Investment Company Institute, money market funds had US$97 billion in net flows during the quarter, while long-term funds were in net redemptions. The inflow to money market funds was the first quarter of positive net flows since the first quarter of 2009.
Flows out of long-term funds slowed to US$12 billion in the quarter, down from US$108 billion in the previous quarter. Equity funds worldwide had net outflows of US$70 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to US$108 billion of net outflows in the third quarter, the ICI reports. Meanwhile, flows into bond funds totaled US$66 billion. Balanced funds had a US$2 billion outflow, and other funds saw a US$7 billion outflow.
During the quarter, mutual fund assets worldwide increased 2.4% to US$23.78 trillion, the ICI says. At the end of the 2011, 40% of worldwide assets were held in equity funds, 25% was in bond funds, and 12% was in balanced/mixed funds. Money market fund assets represented 20% of the worldwide total.
It notes that assets of reporting countries represented 93.4% of assets of all countries at the end of 2011.