Data from Lipper reveals the first net withdrawal from bond funds in 21 months in November, European investors withdrawing a net €4.6bn. Net sales across all asset classes stood at €12.5bn, or €9.7bn excluding money market funds.
Among bond funds, emerging market debt saw inflows of €1.8bn, down from the 12-month average of €3.6bn, while the established trend of withdrawals from € and short-term € funds continued with €8bn in outflows. An overall total of €1.6bn was withdrawn from € corporate and US$ bond funds.
“As so often in the past, the UK bucked this wider European trend as investors increased their appetite across equity, bond and mixed asset (primarily absolute return) funds with global and emerging market flavours,” Lipper’s report said.
Statistics from the European Fund and Asset Management Association report a rise in net inflows to Ucits in November, up from €7bn in October to €16bn in November, though long-term Ucits, ie those exluding money market funds, saw inflows fall from €26bn to €12bn.
Net inflows into bond funds fell from €8bn in October to “slightly above breakeven point” in November, said Efama.
JPMorgan was the best-selling group of the month, according to Lipper’s figures, with net sales of €1.6bn just ahead of Franklin Templeton. Both groups saw equity fund sales and bucked the trend with continued sales of their bond fund ranges.
The most successful equity group was Schroders, whose net sales of €1.5bn were followed by JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton and Aberdeen, all of whom enjoyed equity inflows of over €1bn on the month.
