Equity funds gain most in Indonesia

Below growth of Jakarta Composite Index.

This is how equity mutual funds performed in Indonesia as it recorded the higher average gains than fixed income and balanced funds during the first 10 months.

Research company PT Infovesta Utama revealed that equity funds recorded an average yield of 8.75 percent in year-to-date returns. Meanwhile, fixed income funds and balanced funds saw 6.24 and 6.49 percent in year-to-date yields, respectively.

Despite higher returns, equity funds’ average yields were still below the JCI’s year-to-date growth of 12.88 percent, as of Tuesday.

The five best equity funds, according to figures from Infovesta, are Sam Indonesian Equity Fund with a yield of 32.2 percent yield, followed by MNC Dana Ekuitas with 28.52 percent, Syailendra Equity Opportunity Fund with 24.49 percent, OSK Nusadana Alpha Sector Rotation with 21.05 percent and TRAM Consumption Plus with 19.66.

Suwito Haryatno, director at PT MNC Asset Management, which manages the MNC Dana Ekuitas fund, said that his company increased portfolio holdings of promising stocks, such as those in sectors related to consumer goods, infrastructure and banking.

“We see that the stocks in these sectors perform well and can generate returns. This year, we also avoided holding stocks of mining companies,” Suwito said on Tuesday.

Balanced funds, which are mostly invested in stocks and debt instruments, trailed the performance of equity funds. The five best year-to-date performers are Nikko BUMN Plus with a yield of 24.99 percent, followed by TRIM Kombinasi 2 with 24.7 percent, MNC Dana Kombinasi with 23.77 percent, Sam Syariah Berimbang with 23.11 percent and Simas Satu with 20.62 percent.

Meanwhile, the top-five performing fixed income funds, which are invested particularly in debt instruments and bank deposits, are Panin Dana Utama Plus 2 with a 11.4 percent yield, followed by Kresna Olympus with 11.09 percent, Sam Sukuk Syariah Sejahtera with 10.62 percent, Schroder IDR Bond Fund II with 10.17 percent and Danareksa Melati Pendapatan Tetap II with 9.83 percent. Ridwan Soetedja of PT Panin Asset Management, which manages Panin Dana Utama Plus 2, said that the fund had a big allocation of government bonds.

“We look at the macro-economic conditions. When it is bullish, we hold long-term government bonds, and when it is unfavorable, we switch to medium–and short–term debt instruments. We are pretty active in doing the switching,”

Ridwan said, adding that Panin Dana Utama Plus 2’s portfolio now consist mostly of medium-term government bonds.

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