The average return of funds managed by overseas institutions to trade yuan shares jumped 62.79 percent in the first half of this year, an industry report said yesterday.

Their performance outshone that of the domestic stock-investment funds which reported an average return of 50.67 percent, fund research firm Lipper & Co said in a report. Last month, the average return of 11 funds under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme was 12.45 percent, against 11.21 percent for domestic funds, the report said.

The cumulative size of 27 QFII funds that were researched by Lipper totaled US$9.9 billion by June 30, against US$8.9 billion a month earlier.

The Shanghai Composite Index soared 62.53 percent in the first half of this year to become the best performer in the Asia Pacific region, but Lipper reminded investors of potential risks from the slump in the China's exports, a slowing economy and inflation.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has allowed 82 overseas investors under the QFII scheme to invest in the domestic stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

(Shanghai Daily July 15, 2009)