There is renewed appetite for Japanese equity funds, with the sector returning into the Investment Association’s (IA) top five best sellers.
According to its monthly sales figures for November, Japan saw net retail sales of £133m, returning to the top five for the first time since June 2015.
UK Equity Income was the best selling sector, with net retail sales of £448m, the fifth time it was the best-selling sector in 2015.
Guy Sears, interim chief executive of the IA, explained that net retail sales hit their second highest levels of 2015 at £1.7bn in November.
“This was mainly driven by investors looking to equity funds for returns, with UK and European focused products leading the way.
“We also saw renewed investor appetite for Japanese equity funds as the sector returned to the top five selling with net retail sales nearly double their 12-month average.”
| Region | Net retail sales in November 2015 | Average net retail sales for previous 12 months |
| UK | £611m | £93m |
| Europe | £367m | £301m |
| Japan | £134m | £67m |
| Global | £90m | £214m |
| North America | £4m | -£13m |
| Asia | -£78m | -£60m |
Equity was the best-selling asset class for the seventh consecutive month, with net retail sales of £1.1bn, while mixed asset was the second best-seller at £150m.
The worst-selling IA sector was Global Emerging Markets, with a net retail outflow of £69m.
Gross retail sales for UK fund platforms totalled £6.2bn, representing a market share of 54.3 per cent, increasing year-on-year at the expense of direct retail sales, which declined for the seventh consecutive month to 5 per cent.
Meanwhile, other intermediaries - including wealth managers, stockbrokers, IFAs and DFMs - attracted gross net retail sales of £4.6bn and a market share of 40.6 per cent.
Jaskarn Pawar, a financial planner with Northamptonshire-based Investor Profile, said: “I don’t particularly see any one country as being more attractive than others with today’s volatility.
“You cannot guess which country is going to perform well and that’s why you need a well diversified portfolio.”
