EM Local Currency Funds Buck Trend

EM bond funds may have lost $373m for the week ending August 17, but EM local currency bond funds received $273m, according to fund data company EPFR Global. This makes local currency funds one of the few fixed-income classes to see gains. “EM local currency bond funds continue to demonstrate safe-haven status in this market crisis, and we are increasingly convinced that this will remain the case,” says RBS. Fixed-income funds’ performance showed a gain of 1.53% for the week ending August 18, according to Lipper, bringing ytd gains to 5.53% gain. Meanwhile, global-income funds rose 0.98% for the week, to yield 5.58% growth ytd. International income funds were up 1.16%, bringing the ytd return to 7.82%.