11 February 2021
But surprisingly US equities sees first net-outflows since October 2018
MPF Ratings’ January MPF Asset Class Fund Flows Summary has now been uploaded to MPF Ratings’ media education portal.
Key points are as follows:
- MPF attracted $3.35bn in net inflows in January to reach an all-time high asset size of HK$1.16tr (See Table 1).
- Reflecting member confidence in local and regional equities, Hong Kong/China equities, and Asian equities attracted a combined 104.3% of January’s net-inflows (See Table 1).
- 8 out of the top 10 fund inflow winners for January were HK/China or Asian equity funds (See Table 2).
- US equities with a surprising net-outflow of -12.8% saw it’s first net-outflows since October 2018 (See Table 1).
- Sun Life, Manulife and HSBC China equity funds, ranking 1, 2 and 3 respectively, attracted the biggest share of MPF fund level inflows in January (See Table 2).
Francis Chung (叢川普), Chairman of independent MPF specialist research group MPF Ratings, said that the strong demand for HK/China and Asian equities, and the rotation out of US equities, reflects strong confidence in equity markets but also concerns over valuations, “Three global factors appear to be supporting equity markets. The vaccine rollout, stimulus packages and extended low interest rates create a perfect environment for equities to do well, however despite the attractive macro landscape, valuations are always something to consider and this could in part explain why there has been a surprising rotation away from US equities, which has seen its first net-outflow since October 2018. MPF members appear to have taken profits from US equities after an extended run up in that market.”
Table 1: MPF Assets and 1-month MPF Fund Flows as at 31 January 2021 (by Fund Types)
Source: MPF Ratings
Table 2: Top 10 net inflow winners in the month of January 2021
Source: MPF Ratings
