Asia-Pacific fund assets up 18% to $1.5 trillion

Assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds in the Asia-Pacific region reached $1.5 trillion in the second quarter of 2009, up 18% from $1.27 trillion in the first quarter, according to data from Lipper. Japan, China and Australia have the region's top three spots in terms of the size of their respective fund markets. Combined, those three markets take up more than 60% of the region's fund assets, with Japan's AUM at $359.9 billion and China's and Australia's nearly equal at $317.3…