ASSETS under management in China's mutual fund industry shrank in the first six months of 2013 due to the slump in the country's stock market in June when the worst liquidity crunch in a decade emerged, an industry report showed yesterday. The total AUM in the fund industry decreased to 2.44 trillion yuan (US$400 billion) in the first half of the year from 2.79 trillion yuan reached at the end of 2012, representing a decline of 12.5 percent, Z-Ben Advisors said in the report. The Shanghai-based consulting firm attributed the fall to the plummeting equity market last month, which saw the CSI 300 Index fall 15.6 percent, the biggest monthly drop since August 2009, as surging lending costs in the interbank market triggered fears about a liquidity crisis.