Return to calm in the market aids Aberdeen
ABERDEEN Asset Management was one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 yesterday after it pulled in more money amid calmer global markets.
It posted a six per cent rise in funds under management to £184.4bn in the two months to the end of February as investors rediscovered their appetite for risk.
Chief executive Martin Gilbert said money had flowed into higher-margin products such as emerging markets equities.
He told City A.M. that sentiment had improved after the Eurozone crisis eased but declined to say it had been dealt with definitively. “I don’t know whether it would come back. I think most people are pretty cautious.”
Shares in Aberdeen, which joined the FTSE 100 earlier this month, closed up 4.36 per cent at 260.80p after it benefited from the rally in global markets. Central banks have pumped cheap cash into the financial system this year, with the European Central Bank pouring in more than €1 trillion (£836bn) since late December.
Yesterday Aberdeen said fixed-income outflows had slowed significantly from previous quarters and it continued to see positive interest for both emerging market debt and its Asian local currency short-duration product.
It also said it had recently been appointed to two new mandates in its property business, which it expects to fund during the second half of its financial year.