In its August edition, Nikkei Money compiled its second "Nikkei Money Fund Manager Ranking," which is based on the performance of open-end equity funds over the past year. Morgan Stanley Asset & Invest Trust Management, the asset management arm of Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Japan, was ranked first in two out of five categories by investing regions.

Hiroshi Ueda of Morgan Stanley Asset & Invest Trust Management ranked number one for the onshore Japanese equity fund category. Ueda earned a total score of 85.86, accounting for a record performance of the "MS Japan Growth Fund" which he has been managing since December of 1996.

Shunzo Tatsumi ranked number one in the Asia-Oceania fund category for managing the "MS Asia-Oceania Index Fund," a passive index fund investing in eleven countries in the Asia-Oceania regions.

The survey was conducted by sending questionnaires to investment trust companies to cover 467 open-end funds. The funds had to be a minimum of one year old at the end of March, 1999 and have had net assets of one billion or more. The five asset classes include Japan, Asia-Oceania, North America, Latin America, and Europe.