The youngest equity funds on the market were also the most exposed to adjustments on the stock exchange over the last few months, with the three open-end investment funds that launched operations this year posting negative yields of up to 23% since entering the market, shows research published by ZF.ro.

So far, the biggest challenge for fund managers has been to get a negative yield below the 30% adjustment of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Investment manager Investica was the first manager to launch an open-end investment fund this year. Investica Altius, which invests on the stock market, has posted a 6% negative yield since its launch.

The launch of equity fund Investica Altius overlapped with the decline of the stock market. The fund has registered a 6% negative yield thus far, while the depreciation of the market amounted to around 30% from August through to November," says Leonard Visan, general manager of SAI Investica.

Next came Raiffeisen Asset Management (RAM), which at the end of August launched Raiffeisen Romania Actiuni that has posted a 23% negative yield so far. At the end of September, RAM launched another fund on the market, Raiffeisen Confort, which generated a 4% negative yield for its investors between September 25 and November 27.

"The decline of Raiffeisen Confort fund was quite low compared to the market, because the investment strategy considered a reduction in the investments in shares, and an increase in the volume of assets invested in bonds when the market was going down. As for the negative yield of Raiffeisen Romania Actiuni, the equity fund entered a dwindling market," says Mihail Ion, chairman of Raiffeisen Asset Management, adding capital increases also had a negative impact on yields.

Even though the fund unit value has significantly increased over the last few months, investors are not in a hurry to buy into investment funds, and choose to be cautious instead.

The low liquidity of the bond market and also fixed-income instruments, which can provide "shelter" during times of stock market adjustments, has left equity fund managers without any options.

The negative period when it entered the market is tightly related to the receipt of the fund operating licenses from the National Securities Commission (CNVM). Both managers sent licensing papers to CNVM in May, and got their approval in August.