Bond funds were the main beneficiaries of an upswell in conservative investor behaviour in the second quarter of the year, attracting nearly five dollars for every one committed to equity vehicles, according to tracking agency EPFR.
This reverses a trend seen in the first quarter, when equities outpaced bonds.
There were nevertheless some losers within the fixed-income category, with high-yield bonds suffering acutely from waning investor confidence with $8bn (€5.6bn) redeemed in June alone. EPFR’s Europe Bond Funds category also suffered as the threat of Greek default reignited fears of Eurozone recession.
The EPFR data supports figures from the Investment Management Association (IMA) which says bond funds sold more than equities in the UK retail market in May.
Strategic Bonds was the highest selling IMA sector with £341m (€378.4m) in net retail sales, while overall net retail sales were of £1.1bn.
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