Investments in stock and hybrid mutual funds are on the rise since early 2021 in Russia on the back of stock market outperformance. Stock funds emerged as the most popular ones in May, for the first time year-to-date, ousting hybrid mutual funds that were the hit among investors.

Russian stocks

MOEX Index appreciated by over 5% to reach its all-time high of 3750+ points in May, driving Sber's ETF MOEX Total Return [1] to perform strongly that month. According to a ranking compiled by Investfunds, the fund delivered the third highest yield among the funds whose net assets overshoot RUB 1 bn, with its shares up 6.67%. The fund invests in shares and depositary receipts which are part of the MOEX Total Return index.

Gold

Gold hit its new yearly highs in May, with one ounce priced above USD 1,900. The 7.7% increase was the biggest one since July 2020. These dynamics benefited the appreciation of Sber - Gold[2] shares, which added 7.73% over the month, making the fund rank in the Top 10 most profitable mutual funds.

Highest yielding

In May, three of Sber Asset Management's funds ranked in the Top 10 most popular mutual funds in Russia. Before that, stock investors were more conservative and resorted to the Balanced fund, which invests in both stocks and bonds.

However, investor preferences changed in May, and Russians followed stock market indices, in part driven by the high yield of Russian companies. This explains the popularity of the MOEX Index fund, which according to the Investfunds ranking was among the Top 10 most popular funds in May when Russian investors injected RUB 2.7 bn into it.

Although no longer the most popular mutual fund of Sber, the Balanced fund[3] remains extremely popular among investors, who invested RUB 2.2 bn in it in May.

Yet another Top 10 fund is the Dobrynya Nikitich mutual fund[4], one of Russia's oldest. It saw RUB 1 bn in investments.

The text cites data from Investfunds.ru's ranking of open-end and exchange-traded mutual funds with a net asset value starting at RUB 1 bn in terms of yield and investments attracted to open-end and exchange-traded funds between May 1 and 31, 2021.

[1] BPIF RFI Sber - Indeks Mosbirzhy Polnoy Dokhodnosti Brutto (MOEX Total Return)

[2] OPIF RFI Sber - Gold

[3] OPIF RFI Sber - Fond Sbalansirovanny (Balanced)

[4] OPIF RFI Sber - Fond Aktsiy Dobrynya Nikitich

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Sberbank of Russia published this content on 17 June 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 June 2021 13:33:08 UTC.