Aberdeen's technology fund is claiming first prize in the Isa fund race
despite technology stocks going off the rails in recent weeks.
The tech fund took £375m in the past 12 months, with more than £315m taken
in the last three months alone. But no technology fund has escaped the
recent volatility in the tech, media and telecoms sector.
The three big technology funds, Aberdeen, Henderson and SocGen, fell by 24
per cent, 22 per cent and 23 per cent respectively between March 10 and
April 5 while the FTSE 100 TechMark index fell b 34 per cent.
Investec Wired was the number-one performer, falling by just 1.8 per cent,
while Gartmore's Techtornado suffered most, falling by 31 per cent.
But analysts are telling investors not to panic, with some tech funds
already recovering. They believe technology stocks will continue to
underpin the growth story and the setback has provided fund managers with
buying opportunities.
Despite Aberdeen's technology success, it was not enough to prevent
Fidelity from topping the gross Isa sales charts for 1999/2000. It took in
£1.1bn, with £550m coming in the last three months. This is a 32 per cent
increase on its Pep sales of £833m last year. Jupiter took second place
with £1.05bn and Aberdeen third with £753m.
Gartmore and Invesco are likely to fight it out for the other two spots in
the top five.
Fidelity associate director (UK wholesale) David Cowdell says: “One of the
greatest advantages of Isas compared with Peps is that Isa applications can
be applied for online. Nearly £40m of our Isas were opened online.”
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