The UK Equity Income and Property sectors topped the sales charts, as they did in September. However, there was more change further down the sales table. The Short Term Money Market sector proved popular as investors continue to look for ‘safe haven’ assets.
However, global emerging markets edged up into 8th place, suggesting selected investors may be looking for bargains. The Fidelity Global Emerging Markets and First State Asia Pacific Leaders funds were both top sellers.
There was also a lot of turnover in the bestselling funds compared to the previous month, barring a few stalwarts such as Woodford Equity Income.
Danny Wynn, head of fund partners for Fidelity International, also highlighted the increasing popularity of passive funds, said: “There were three passive funds appearing in the bestsellers list, up from one last month, within the FundsNetwork Pension. After one month we can’t call this a trend but it will be interesting to see if this is a theme that develops in the medium term.”
“October saw many of the major global indices having their best month in years. Yet despite this, many investors continued to favour defensive assets, which is unsurprising given the extended bouts of volatility they had to endure in previous months. However, we did see some evidence of confidence returning, particularly as China showed signs that it genuinely is rebalancing rather than suffering a hard landing.”
