China mutual funds loses US$20B in first half

China's mutual funds made a combined loss of 125.4 billion yuan or US$19.65bi) in the first half of 2011.

These were battered mainly by weakness in the country's stock market, reports Reuters

State media have reported the funds lost 439.75 billion yuan in the first half of 2010.

All of the country's 61 fund management companies, which manage 763 mutual funds, posted losses in the first six months of this year.

Stocks-oriented funds reported the biggest loss 78.9 billion yuan while those that invested just a part of their funds in stocks lost 47.9 billion yuan, it said.

Money market funds made a slight profit to become the only silver lining of the domestic industry during the period, the official China Securities Journal said.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.6% in the first half of this year, due mainly to a slew of economic cooling steps, including increases in interest rates and bank reserve requirement ratios.

In the first half of 2010, the index plunged 27%, battered by a government campaign to ease property price rises.