Investment funds enjoyed strong sales in April, data released by an industry group has shown.
Bond funds proved popular and boosted a general increase in investment product sales, the Investment Management Association (IMA) announced yesterday.
April figures from the industry group showed that ISA inflows rose to £671 million over the course of the month. This is a strong increase from April 2008's £466 million - and indicates that many investors are moving their assets from cash into stocks and bonds as the markets rise once more.
"Green shoots" of recovery detected by some analysts in the real economy led to a strong performance of the funds over the month, with assets under management rising eight percent to £375 billion - including £74 billion of ISA funds.
Almost half of all retail sales for all funds were taken up by bond funds. The investment products have been performing consistently strongly over the past few months, with yields on corporate debt rising due to higher company default rates in the recession.
Richard Saunders, chief executive of the IMA, added: "Retail sales continued the strong showing of 2009 so far with inflows to bond funds in April exceeding £1 billion for the fifth consecutive month.
"The figures also confirm that April saw the highest ISA sales in three years."
