Fund sales suffered in March, but bond funds are doing well, figures from the IMA have shown.
Results for investment funds have been published by the Investment Management Association (IMA).
According to the industry group, total funds held by UK investment funds rose by two percent from February to hit £347.9 billion in March. However, this total was well below the £433 billion recorded in March 2008.
A similar story was noted for stocks and shares ISAs. Funds under management dropped by two percent in March and were 18 percent down on 2008.
However, ISA sales hit £321 million last month, up from an outflow of £112.5 million in February and the net inflows of £47.5 million recorded in March 2008. Meanwhile, UK domiciled bond funds experienced a net sales inflow of £250 million in March, while £ Corpoate Bond was the single most popular IMA-managed asset class for the month.
There has been an increased cautiousness among investors recently caused by the credit crisis - which worsened significantly towards the end of last year. With more people looking for less risky investments, including cash, government bonds and even gold, fund sales biased towards stocks and bonds have suffered.
Richard Saunders, chief executive of the IMA said that he was pleased with news of the inflows. "This year's ISA season saw significantly greater net investment than 2008," he commented. "Strong inflows into bond funds of the last few months have been maintained."
