The mutual funds have opened 2021 with a continuation of the momentum of inflows that has prevailed since April last year. From the start of the second quarter last year until the end of the year, the funds saw inflows of NIS a little over NIS 20 billion, and in January this year the positive trend of the return of the public to the capital market through the mutual funds continued, with aggregate inflows of NIS 5.4 billion.
Thus within ten months the mutual funds industry had inflows of NIS 25.5 billion, after redemptions of over NIS 40 billion in March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
Money market funds had inflows of NIS 626 million in January, while the traditional funds had inflows totaling NIS 3.34 billion. Index funds had aggregate inflows of NIS 1.83 billion in January while ETFs had inflows of NIS 831 million.
Only four of the seventeen independent mutual fund management companies had net outflows in January, with all the others recording net inflows, headed by the outstanding investment house of 2020, Migdal Capital Markets, run by CEO Sagi Stein. Migdal Capital Markets' mutual funds company, headed by Lior Kashrian, was the only one with inflows of more than NIS 1 billion in January, gaining a total of NIS 1.26 billion in all its funds, which is in addition to inflows of NIS 4.63 billion in 2020. In fact, between April 2020 and January 2021 the company had net inflows every month, totaling NIS 9.8 billion over the whole period, the outcome of the high rating of the company's funds in the banks' rankings. In January, Migdal Capital Markets overtook Harel Finance in total funds under management.
After Migdal Capital Markets, by some distance, are Meitav Dash and More Investment House, which each had inflows of just over NIS 600 million in January. Shortly after them comes Kesem, controlled by Excellence Investment House, in turn owned by The Phoenix Insurance. Two other investment houses that had inflows in the three-figure millions in January were Altshuler Shaham, which has had a very positive year, and Harel Finance.
At the end of January 2021, mutual funds in Israel had a total of NIS 340.4 billion under management, 3% more than at the end of 2020. In shekel terms, this is an increase of NIS 10 billion in one month, stemming from the inflows mentioned and an average positive return of 1.4% in the first month of this year.
This is 33% more than in March 2020, when the coronavirus crisis on the capital markets was at its height. Since then, the funds have grown by NIS 85 billion, but aggregate funds under management are still lower than at the end of 2019, when the figure was NIS 352.3 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 4, 2021
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