MUTUAL FUNDS : 2009 PERFORMANCE REPORT

Mutual funds in the Philippines ended the year 2009 on a high note, with all but one fund registering a positive return.

The funds reversed the losses incurred in 2008 as markets turned optimistic. Two funds, one equity (Philequity Fund) and one balanced (ALFM Growth Fund) even managed to beat the 63% return of the Philippine Stock Exchange index in 2009.

For the entire year, equity funds earned an average of 46.7%. This means an investment placed at the start of the year earned almost half of the total money invested.

Balanced funds trail closely, ending the year with an average return of 35.6%.
Peso bond funds produced an average return of 5.38%, while money market funds increased value on average by 1.36%.

Summarized below is the full-year performance of Philippine mutual funds, side by side with their return and rank during the preceding year.

PERFORMANCE OF MUTUAL FUNDS IN THE PHILIPPINES
For the Years Ended 2009 and 2008

Other Sources or References
•    www.icap.com.ph – official website of the Investment Company Association of the Philippines (ICAP), the organization of mutual fund companies in the country.
•    www.sec.gov.ph – official website of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory body for Philippine mutual fund companies.

BANKS: TRUST FUND INVESTMENT

Unit investment trust funds allow small scale investors to participate in large fund investing that is otherwise inaccessible to them.

Unit investment trust funds (UITFs) are the sophisticated form of pooled fund (paluwagan), the investment that doubles as a savings plan many Filipinos are familiar with. UITF is a collective investment scheme that pools the investments of small investors into a larger fund under professional management. It is able to access more superior investment opportunities not normally available to individual retail investors.

This kind of trust fund comes with a number of advantages. One is the low minimum investment required, which starts at P10,000. Another is that one need not be a finance expert to make an investment. Because the money is pooled, investors diversify their portfolio and minimize their risks. The fund determines the best way to park the money, whether it is in commercial paper, bonds, or equities.

But please be reminded that Unit Investment Trust Funds (UITFs) are not deposit products and are not covered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation. Due to daily marking-to-market of investments, the price or the net asset value per unit of the UITFs may fluctuate depending on the prevailing market conditions. Historical returns of the Funds are for indication purposes only and are not guarantee of future results, any income or loss that may result from the performance of the Funds shall be for the account of the participant.

The type of unit investment trust funds (UITFs) depends on the investments they make. Here are some UITFs in the market today:

1.    Money market securities UITFs. These are low risk, high liquidity investments.

2.    Bond UITFs entail more risks but promise higher returns in the long term.

To see price history, you can visit directly to the bank website under investment category. Else, check from this site http://www.uitf.com.ph...