Ashmore's quarterly AuM grow by lower than expected $6.5bn in Q4

Global fund management group Ashmore saw its assets under management jump again during the fourth quarter of its trading year, albeit by less than expected by some analysts and with market performance accounting for a larger proportion of the improvement than anticipated.

AuM grew by $6.5bn, which was a tad short of the $6.9bn that analysts at UBS had penciled-in and the split between net inflows and market performance was less positive than anticipated.

Commenting on the firm's performance, chief Mark Coombs chose to focus on the 24% rise in AuM achieved over the past year and to highlight what he termed as a "positive" outlook for emerging markets and the opportunities on offer for "raising investor allocations to higher, more representative levels."

However, net inflows rose by $3.3bn, with demand from retail clients especially strong for corporate debt and local currency products, while investment performance added $3.2bn.

Yet UBS's Michael Werner had forecast a $4.6bn increase in AuM divided between $4.6bn of net inflows alongside $2.3bn from market prformance.

Overall net inflows were highest in external debt, local currency and corporate debt, Ashmore said.

Included in the fund manager's tally for investment performance for the quarter was a $1.0bn tailwind from foreign currency translation effects.