Closed-End Fund Assets Advance by $14B in Q3

At the end of September 2003, closed-end funds’ combined asset total stood at $202.9 after the third quarter’s rise, the eighth quarter in a row that closed-end fund combined assets have risen (See    ICI: Closed-End Funds Add $19.64 Billion in Assets in Q2 ).  By asset class, bond funds enjoyed the largest quarter asset gain, increasing by $8.65 billion to $157.7 billion, while equity fund assets increased by $5.56 billion to $45.1 billion, according to data by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Bond funds were boosted by a large asset increase in domestic taxable funds, which added $7.52 billion in the third quarter, now standing at a cumulative $54.4 billion.  Likewise, the other two bond fund categories, domestic municipal and global, recorded asset increases of $745 million and $383 million, respectively.

Both domestic and global equity fund categories also noted asset pick-ups for the quarter, with the former gaining $5.55 billion, while global equity funds were $4.73 billion higher.

Full quarter closed-end fund asset return data can be found at  http://www.ici.org/stats/ce/cef_09_03.html .