The latest Investment Association figures out today show:
• Investors have withdrawn £12bn from UK equity funds since Brexit vote
• Absolute Return sees ninth month of outflows
• All equity markets hit, with Global the only winner
Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, comments:
“We’ve now hit £12bn of investor money that has been pulled out of UK funds since the Brexit vote, with UK funds seeing another £445m of outflows in March, as any resolution on Brexit seems further away than Liverpool’s chances of reaching the Champions league final.
“Overall investors pulled more than £200m from funds in March, marking the sixth consecutive month of outflows, with equity funds seeing chunky outflows of £630m, far higher than the previous month’s £450m. Only the Global equity sector saw significant inflows, with all other markets facing investor redemptions. UK was hardest hit, followed by Europe ex-UK with £412m of outflows and Asia Pacific with £122m of outflows.
“Fixed income funds attracted £810m in the month, helping to counteract some of the whopping outflows elsewhere, with strategic bond funds once again being the winners taking in £526m of money. However, UK bond managers won’t be celebrating as they have seen more than £2bn of assets whipped away from them in the past year.
“Continuing its run of being more unpopular than a chat about Brexit in the pub, the Absolute Return sector has clocked up its ninth consecutive month of outflows, with another £400m pulled from the funds. These outflows are likely to be focused on the few giants in the sector, who have failed to impress investors, and with £4.2bn withdrawn from the sector in those nine months investors are voting with their feet.”
