Investment Management Association figures for January 2014 reveal that equities were the best selling asset class for the 10th month in a row with Target Absolute Return the top sector.
Net retail sales were over £1bn for the 10th consecutive month too at £1.1 billion. Net retail sales in the equity class were £464 million
Within the equity classes, UK and Europe were the best-selling regions for equity funds and Targeted Absolute Return was the top-selling IMA sector with net retail sales of £343 million – the highest since December 2009.
Daniel Godfrey, IMA chief executive, said: "Net retail sales were twice the level of January last year. Investors continued to favour equities, especially UK and European funds, while Targeted Absolute Return funds saw their highest sales since December 2009."
Property was the second best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £232 million, the highest since March 2010. Mixed Asset was the third best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £213 million. The fixed income asset class saw a net outflow of £229 million.
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European equity funds were the second best-selling with net retail sales of £261 million with Asian equity funds saw a net retail outflow of £235 million and North American funds an outflow of £149 million. 

Platforms continue to grow their market share when it comes to fund distribution. In January 2014, UK fund platforms continued to see the highest gross retail sales at £6.4 billion, representing a 53% market share (44% in January 2013). Gross retail sales for Other Intermediaries (includes Wealth Managers, Stockbrokers and IFAs) totalled £4.8 billion in January 2014, a market share of 40% (48% in January 2013).

Direct gross retail sales in January 2014 were £871 million, representing a market share of 7% (same as in January 2013).
For the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact) net sales for January 2014 were £1 billion. 

Unwrapped products had the highest net sales at £604 million, followed by Personal Pensions (£290 million) and Isa (£162 million). Insurance Bonds saw a net outflow of £19 million. 

For the same five fund platforms, funds under management as at the end of January 2014 were £162 billion, compared with £138 billion a year earlier.
In January 2014, there was a net outflow of £9 million in net sales for ISAs through fund companies and the five fund platforms that provide data to the IMA (Cofunds, Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Skandia and Transact). This is much less than in January 2013 when ISAs saw a net outflow of £307 million.
The top three best-selling sectors for ISAs based on the five fund platforms were:
1. UK Equity Income (£60.2 million net sales)
2. UK Smaller Companies (£59.4 million net sales)
3. UK All Companies (£40.4 million net sales)

Net retail sales for funds of funds in January 2014 were £116 million. Net retail sales of funds of funds with different asset management firms were £120 million. However, there was a net outflow of £5 million from funds of funds invested into the same firm's funds. Funds under management for funds of funds were at £86.4 billion as at the end of January 2014, accounting for 11.4% of industry funds under management, compared with 11.3% in January 2013.
Tracker funds saw net retail sales of £245 million in January 2014. Funds under management for tracker funds were £72 billion as at the end of January 2014. Their overall share of total funds under management was 9.5%, compared with 9.1% in January 2013.
Net retail sales of ethical funds were £32 million in January 2014.