Gulf funds resilient to turmoil

The euro's appreciation against the dollar aided in reducing the losses of GCC domestic funds to less than one per cent in the first six months of the year. However, most funds experienced increased money outflows, which are expected to stabilise in the last quarter. The overall decline of 0.63 per cent of GCC-domiciled funds, according to Lipper, was despite all regional markets closing negatively at the end of June amid unprecedented political unrest in the Mena region, doubts about global recovery, inflationary pressures from emerging countries and difficulties related to sovereign debt in Europe and United States. Except for bond and mixed assets funds, all other categories witnessed significant decreases. Gulf News obtained exclusive access to data, which will be publicly released shortly.