EUROPE – European investment fund body FEFSI says net sales of UCITS slowed down in the third quarter of 2004 to 14 billion euros - from 24 billion euros in the second quarter.

“The fall was mainly due to the poor performance in worldwide stock markets,” the body said, adding that total net assets of UCITS remained nearly flat in the third quarter as a consequence.

FEFSI, the Fédération Européenne des Fonds et Sociétés d'Investissement, added that Luxembourg attracted most of the total net flows into UCITS during the third quarter. It said: “In terms of asset growth, the strongest performance was recorded in countries with a relatively low market share.”

For the year to the end of September, Luxembourg and France recorded net sales of UCITS totalling 120 billion euros while asset gathering was also strong in Spain, at 16 billion euros.

And year-to-date growth of UCITS assets reached 7.8%, with nine countries recording double-digit growth rate.