42 Asian equity funds among world’s top 100 in 2012 -Lipper

HONG KONG, Jan 18: Forty-two mutual funds investing in Asia stormed into the list of the world’s top 100 best performing equity funds in 2012 as regional markets from India to Southeast Asia rallied.
The top 100 list includes 14 equity funds each from Pakistan and Thailand and nine from India, according to an analysis of data for 27,153 actively managed equity mutual funds tracked by Thomson Reuters Lipper globally.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark 100 share index surged 49 percent, while Bangkok’s benchmark SET index finished 35.8 percent up last year, making them the two best performing share markets in Asia.
The Asia-focused funds produced an average return of 61.5 percent, outperforming the top market in the region as well as the 18.6 percent advance in the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.
Nearly 7,300 equity funds investing in Asia and tracked by Lipper returned an average 17.9 percent in 2012. By comparison, non-Asian funds gained 13.3 percent, the data showed.

(AGENCIES)