Ashmore Group suffers amid market volatility

13th Oct 2011 08:36

Ashmore Group the asset management firm, says total assets under management (AuM) decreased 10.5% to $58.9 billion in the third quarter of 2011.The firm said a $7.1bn decline in AuM was largely due to "adverse investment performance" that was only partially offset by net inflows to the group of $0.2 billion.Interestingly, much of those inflows came from products aimed at retail investors gaining exposure to Asian markets. The firm said it took a real hammering in September, in particular, when equity and foreign exchange markets were especially volatile.In giving a breakdown on what it describes as "themes", Ashmore revealed that equity AuM fell 26.7% in the third quarter to $7.4bn from $10.1bn at the end of June, while the local currency themed offerings saw a 10.6% fall to $8.4bn from $9.4bn. The corporate debt theme was the one bright spot, with AuM rising to $1.5bn from $1.3bn at the end of June. The firm is putting a brave face on the recent poor performance by arguing that its emerging market speciality puts it in "the place to be" to take advantage of "short-term market nervousness to capture long-term fundamental value".Investors in Ashmore, however, are clearly sceptical, its share price has fallen 6.43% in morning trading.BS