LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Standard Life's flagship GlobalAbsolute Return Strategies Fund (GARS) suffered its firstquarterly outflow in the second quarter, RBC Capital Marketsanalysts said in a note to clients, adding they expect outflowsfrom the fund to have worsened since the end of June.
Standard Life, which reported results earlier on Tuesday,posted a forecast-beating 7 percent rise in first-half assetsunder administration.
RBC analysts estimate GARS accounts for 30 percent of the group's earnings and based on their expectations that outflowsfrom the fund are likely to continue, have stuck to their"underperform" rating on the stock.
GARS managed more than 26 billion pounds ($33.76 billion) atthe end of June, making it one of the largest global so-called'absolute return' funds, which aim to generate positive returnsin all market conditions and whose popularity spiked higheramong institutional as well as retail investors following thefinancial crisis of 2008. ($1 = 0.7702 pounds) (Reporting by Vikram Subhedar, editing by Simon Jessop)