By Nishant Kumar
LONDON (Reuters) - Emerging market fund manager Ashmore Group (L:ASHM) said assets under management fell in the September quarter as weaker market conditions led to portfolio losses and money leaving some of its funds.
Money managed by Ashmore declined by $3.7 billion (2.30 billion pounds) during the quarter to $71.3 billion. While negative investment performance contributed $3.4 billion to the fall, about $300 million also left its funds, the fund firm said in a statement on Tuesday.
An appreciation in the dollar hit the performance of its local currency and blended debt holdings. The money manager said clients pulled out money towards the end of the quarter mainly from equities and Japanese multi-strategy funds.
Its local currency, blended debt and corporate debt funds saw net inflows in three months to September.
"The fundamentals in emerging markets continue to be supportive and many of the market uncertainties of the past year are being resolved," Mark Coombs, Ashmore's chief executive officer, said in the statement.
He said political changes in a number of emerging market countries had resulted in favourable reformist agendas and geopolitical risk was isolated, while the U.S. Treasury market has also reacted in a measured way to the increasing prospect of higher short-term interest rates.
"This provides a firm footing for Ashmore's investment processes to take on risk and to deliver long-term investment performance for clients," he added.
(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Simon Jessop)