42 Asian equity funds among world's top 100 in 2012: Lipper

The list includes 14 equity funds each from Pakistan, Thailand and 9 from India

Forty-two mutual funds investing in Asia stormed into the list of the world's top 100 best performing equity funds in 2012, as regional markets from India to Southeast Asia rallied.

The top 100 list includes 14 equity funds each from Pakistan and Thailand and nine from India, according to an analysis of data for 27,153 actively managed equity mutual funds tracked by Thomson Reuters Lipper globally.

The Karachi Stock Exchange's benchmark 100 share index surged 49 per cent, while Bangkok's benchmark SET index finished 35.8 percent up last year, making them the two best performing share markets in Asia.

The Asia-focused funds produced an average return of 61.5 per cent, outperforming the top market in the region as well as the 18.6 percent advance in the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.

Nearly 7,300 equity funds investing in Asia and tracked by Lipper returned an average 17.9 per cent in 2012. By comparison, non-Asian funds gained 13.3 per cent, the data showed.
 

INDIAN EQUITY FUNDS IN WORLD'S TOP 100
Rank	Fund name	2012 return (%)
20	ICICI Prudential Banking & Fincl Services-Growth	72.21
49	Reliance Banking Fd-Retail-Growth Pl-Growth Option	60.52
66	UTI Banking Sector Fund-Regular Plan-Income	58.71
76	Sahara Banking and Financial Services Fund-Growth	58.16
77	Religare Banking Fund-Growth	58.13
78	Reliance Media & Entertainment Fund-Growth Plan	57.96
88	SBI MSFU Emerging Business Fund-Growth	56.31
92	SBI Magnum Sector Funds Umbrella-FMCG	55.3
93	Principal Emerging Bluechip Fund-Growth	55.03
Note: Return calculated for primary, actively managed equity mutual funds All returns are in local currency of the fund Source: Thomson Reuters Lipper