T Rowe Price's profit jumps on boost from market rally

(Reuters) - Asset manager T Rowe Price reported an 11% jump in second-quarter adjusted profit on Friday, helped by a relentless market rally that has boosted the value of clients' investments and softened the hit from an outflow of funds.

The growing popularity of low-cost, passively managed funds has taken market share away from active managers such as T Rowe. The company has seen 13 consecutive quarters of outflows.

The market rally helped T Rowe's assets under management (AUM) withstand the onslaught. At the end of the quarter, the company's AUM, which determines its fees, grew 12% to $1.57 trillion despite $3.7 billion of net outflows.

"We are making steady progress with flows and investment performance ... continue to be on track to substantially reduce net outflows this year," CEO Rob Sharps said. Outflows in the first quarter stood at $8 billion.

Some analysts believe the high interest rate environment could help active managers stage a comeback after years of losing out to their passive counterparts.

Investors will have to adopt a more hands-on strategy to add value to their portfolios and manage risk, in contrast to the set-and-forget approach that has defined asset management over the past decade, they have said.

T Rowe's investment advisory fees, typically a percentage of AUM, jumped 11% to $1.59 billion.

Adjusted profit rose to $519.7 million, or $2.26 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $466.5 million, or $2.02 per share, a year earlier.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)