In March of this year, the trend of continuous growth in the scale of public mutual funds in China for 11 consecutive months suddenly halted. According to data from the AMAC, as of the end of March 2026, the total net value of public mutual funds in China reached 37.53 trillion yuan, a decrease of over 1 trillion yuan from the 38.61 trillion yuan at the end of February. Industry insiders point out that the volatile international situation and increased market fluctuations in March have put pressure on the scale of public mutual funds. However, considering that the decrease in the scale of public mutual funds is less than 3%, the overall decrease is manageable, and the industry's development remains stable. With the market picking up in April, the total scale of public mutual funds is expected to return to a growth trend. By type, the scale of equity funds and mixed funds decreased by 516.849 billion yuan and 327.910 billion yuan respectively in March. Among them, the scale of equity ETFs decreased by 310.376 billion yuan in March, accounting for 60.05% of the decrease in the scale of equity funds. This also means that in the scale decrease of equity funds in March, ETFs accounted for 60.05% of the decrease. However, the decrease in the scale of mixed funds was relatively small, and equity funds even saw an increase of 13.997 billion shares in March, indicating that overall investors did not panic sell and there were still funds entering to buy at lower prices. In addition to equity funds and mixed funds, money market funds and QDII funds also experienced scale decreases in March, while bond funds saw a contrary increase in scale of 138.881 billion yuan. In addition, the scale of FOF products also increased slightly by 9.092 billion yuan in March. The total scale of public mutual funds decreased by over 1 trillion yuan in March, interrupting the trend of continuous growth for 11 months The latest data from the AMAC shows that as of the end of March 2026, there were a total of 165 public mutual fund management institutions in China, including 150 fund management companies and 15 asset management institutions with public offering qualifications. The total net asset value of public mutual funds managed by these institutions was 37.53 trillion yuan, a decrease of over 1 trillion yuan from the 38.61 trillion yuan at the end of February, representing a decrease of 2.80%. Prior to this, the total scale of public mutual funds in China had reached a historical high for 11 consecutive months from the end of April 2025 to the end of February 2026. This means that the trend of continuous growth in the total scale of public mutual funds in China was interrupted in March. Industry experts analyzed that the volatile international situation and increased market fluctuations in March led to a decrease in the total scale of public mutual funds. However, the decrease in the scale of public mutual funds in March was less than 3%, remaining within a manageable range, and the overall development of the industry remains stable. Furthermore, with the market volatility easing in April, the total scale of public mutual funds is expected to return to a growth trajectory. Scale decreases in equity and mixed funds, while funds quietly enter to buy at lower prices By fund type, equity funds saw the largest decrease in scale in March. The scale of equity funds at the end of March 2026 was 5.128 trillion yuan, a decrease of 516.849 billion yuan from the 5.6297 trillion yuan at the end of February. Among them, equity ETFs were the main area of decline. Wind data shows that in March 2026, the scale of equity ETFs decreased from 3.16 trillion yuan to 2.85 trillion yuan, a decrease of 310.376 billion yuan. This means that ETFs accounted for 60.05% of the decrease in the scale of equity funds in March. Specifically, the scale of four equity ETFs including the CSI 500 ETF Southern, the SSE 300 ETF Huatai Bairui, the Nonferrous Metal ETF Southern, and the A500 ETF Huaxia decreased by over 10 billion yuan in March, and another 14 ETFs saw a decrease in scale of over 5 billion yuan. The scale of mixed funds also saw a significant decrease. Specifically, the scale of mixed funds at the end of March 2026 was 3.771.071 trillion yuan, a decrease of 327.91 billion yuan from the 4.089.981 trillion yuan at the end of February. Affected by the international situation, the Chinese stock market saw increased volatility in March, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling by 6.51% and the ChiNext Index falling by 3.79%. This put pressure on the scale of equity funds and mixed funds, which are equity-oriented products. However, it is worth noting that although the total scale of these two types of products faced significant declines, the decrease in shares was not high. This means that market volatility did not trigger panic selling of funds, and even some funds took the opportunity to buy at lower prices. Specifically, the share of mixed funds at the end of March 2026 was 26.267.97 billion shares, a decrease of 10.233 billion shares from the 26.370.30 billion shares at the end of February, with a decrease in shares much smaller than the decrease in scale. As for equity funds, the share at the end of March 2026 was 39.349.05 billion shares, an increase of 13.997 billion shares from the 39.209.08 billion shares at the end of February. In a volatile market, the share of equity funds increased instead of decreasing, indicating that there is still a significant amount of funds buying into equity funds based on confidence in the Chinese stock market. Industry experts analyzed that despite the global turmoil, China's industrial chain stability and strong control over energy security give the A-share market resilience. Investments like HALO assets and computing power sectors still present opportunities, and short-term volatility does not change market confidence in the medium and long term. In addition, due to the strong resilience and low valuations of the Chinese market compared to other major markets globally, funds from countries like South Korea and the Middle East are also investing in Chinese markets through fund products, driving the total share of equity funds. Money market funds and QDII funds saw scale decreases, while bond funds and FOF saw contrary increases in scale. In addition to equity funds and mixed funds, money market funds and QDII funds also saw scale decreases in March. Specifically, the scale of money market funds at the end of March 2026 was 155.839.02 trillion yuan, a decrease of 267.48 billion yuan from the 158.513.82 trillion yuan at the end of February. The decrease in the scale of money market funds was mainly due to seasonal redemptions at the end of the quarter, which is a normal cyclical fluctuation. The scale of QDII funds at the end of March 2026 was 970.262 trillion yuan, a decrease of 603.01 billion yuan from the 1,030.563 trillion yuan at the end of February. Industry experts analyzed that the global international situation in March saw declines in overseas equity markets such as the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, leading to a pullback in the net asset value of QDII funds. On the other hand, bond funds saw an increase in scale against the trend.The size of bond funds at the end of March 2026 was 10,8865.49 billion yuan, an increase of 1,388.81 billion yuan compared to 107,476.68 billion yuan at the end of February. As fixed-income assets, bond funds have shown their safe-haven characteristics in the volatile stock market environment in March, attracting inflows of funds.In addition, FOF products also achieved a small-scale growth. The size of FOF products at the end of March 2026 was 324.806 billion yuan, an increase of 9.092 billion yuan compared to the end of February, which was 315.714 billion yuan. FOF has the property of multi-asset allocation, which can hedge stock market volatility by allocating assets such as commodities and precious metals, and is therefore favored by fund managers. At the same time, the recent hot new issuance market for FOF products has also driven growth in this category of products. This article is reprinted from "Cai Lianshe". Editor: Jiang Yuanhua.