Tech funds plummet after massive Isa take

Aberdeen&#39s 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&#39s 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&#39s 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.”