(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) With most mutual funds in Oman strongly outperforming the benchmark index in terms of providing returns to investors for 2013, the outlook for the mutual fund industry is expected to remain positive in 2014, led by increasing market activity and the likely continuing positive performance of the GCC markets.
Of the 11 mutual funds that have posted their financial results till date, nine funds generated returns in excess of 25 per cent for 2013, significantly outperforming the MSM30 index, which gained 18.64 per cent in 2013.
Fund managers said that on the back of the positive regional markets and changed investment strategies, most of the funds have been performing well since last year. Funds that invest in the GCC markets performed better compared with funds focused only on the local market.
Bank Muscat's Oryx Fund posted the highest return of 47.90 per cent, followed by Vision Emerging GCC Fund and Vision Real Economy GCC Fund, which generated returns of 47.05 per cent and 40.41 per cent, respectively. The other top performers were United GCC Fund with 37.51 per cent returns, First Mazoon Fund with 32.21 per cent returns, and Majan Capital Fund with 30.55 per cent returns for 2013. Rajesh Venkiteswaran, senior vice president, asset management, Vision Investment Services, said that the robust government spending in the GCC, along with the hosting of major events such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the Expo 2020 in Dubai, helped lift sentiment in the GCC markets.
He said, ''The development of major infrastructure projects in the GCC region will help keep the growth momentum going for the current year too. With growing populations in the GCC, local consumption and retail spending have also been rising, helping to boost stock market valuations. ''
''The overall outlook is very positive for the GCC markets and the mutual fund industry. There are lots of positive sentiments and this will continue this year. We will continue to chase stocks which bring value and growth opportunities for mutual fund investors,'' said Venkiteswaran.
Among other funds, Vision Emerging Oman Fund generated 29.76 per cent returns, Oman Al Arabi Fund generated 26.2 per cent, FinCorp Al Amal Fund generated 24.22 per cent and Muscat Fund generated 21.9 per cent. Investment Stabilisation Fund, the only fund that did not outperform the MSM30 index, generated 17.54 per cent returns.
Lo'ai Badie Bataineh, head of the investment management group at Oman Arab Bank, which manages Oman al Arabi Fund, said that the strategy for the fund's investments was changed last year with increased exposure to the GCC markets that helped the fund outperform the local market index.
He said, ''Since we found more opportunities in the GCC markets, we changed the structure of the fund and made it more diversified. The fund is now open to invest in all the GCC markets with no limit on exposure to any particular market.'
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