China's buzzing mutual fund market welcomed another newcomer Wednesday, as Fortune SGAM Fund Management Co Ltd started to sell a new equity fund nationwide.

The fund, the fourth issued by the Shanghai-based joint venture in a year, has a diversified investment strategy, seeking opportunities in various sectors, from large-caps to small- and medium-cap stocks. Timing is crucial for the management of the new fund - how to pick the right type of stocks at different times and adjust the portfolio in a timely manner will to a large extent decide on returns, said Tong Guolin, the new fund's manager.

The fund, introduced from SG Asset Management's retail fund product developed in the United States, comes at a time when China's stock market is back on a bullish run and the country's mutual fund business is booming.

Mutual funds are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese investors, especially retailers, said Pei Changjiang, general manager of the one-year-old fund joint venture, which is 67 percent owned by Fortune Trust & Investment Co of Shanghai and 33 percent owned by France's SG Asset Management.

About 60-80 percent of the funds issued this year are subscribed to by retail investors, while in the past the ratio was only, at the most, 50 percent, he said.

Chinese residents now hold about 13 trillion yuan (US$1.57 trillion) in savings at banks. They have been looking for new investment channels. This leaves a lot of marketing potential for asset managers, who are increasing the pace to issue new products as regulators loosen their control on product innovation in the capital market, analysts said.

Over the past three months, more than 50 billion fund units have been sold in China.

To meet local investors' growing demand, SG Asset Management has gathered its global product design teams to combine their expertise to take a pragmatic approach to the situation in China, said Denis Lefranc, deputy general manager of Fortune SGAM Fund Management Co.

The design of the new fund, for example, has catered to the characteristics of the Chinese market - low liquidity and diversification as well as higher demand for risk control, he said.

Chinese banks welcome increasing income from intermediary services to fund managers, in spite of worries that mutual funds may divert part of the savings.

The fund boom is a crucial part in the integration progress of China's capital market and the monetary market, said Li Chunxin, deputy general manager of the fund custody department at the China Construction Bank.

(China Daily April 1, 2004)