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Sales of UK All Companies funds on the Cofunds platform picked up during May, while sales of UK Equity Income funds declined.

Michelle Woodburn, business development manager for fund managers at Cofunds, said three funds had led the increase in UK All Companies net sales from 2.15 per cent in April to 3.55 per cent in May.

The £1.7bn Schroder UK Alpha Plus fund, the £3.1bn M&G Recovery fund and the £1.6bn BlackRock UK Dynamic fund came second, third and eighth in terms of gross sales respectively.

But Cofunds’ highest-selling fund in May was Mark Lyttleton’s £864.9m BlackRock UK Absolute Alpha fund, which extended its 2008 record to five consecutive months at the top. Coupled with the sales of his UK Dynamic fund, this gave manager Mr Lyttleton two funds in the top 10.

By contrast, the UK Equity Income sector saw net outflows in May, despite being the second most popular sector on Cofunds in terms of first quarter net sales. Ms Woodburn said the £9.2bn Invesco Perpetual High Income fund and the £672.6m Neptune Income fund were still seeing strong sales levels year-to-date, however.

Other major UK income sectors UK Corporate Bond and UK Other Bond were the third and fourth most popular home for investors, remaining strong throughout May.

“UK Corporate Bond has been very popular, mainly because of the £1bn Old Mutual Corporate Bond fund,” she said. Sales of Invesco Perpetual’s £2.2bn Monthly Income Plus fund had dominated the UK Other Bond sector, Ms Woodburn added.

But the sector with the highest net sales on Cofunds in May continued to be Cautious Managed. In the first quarter, Cautious Managed net sales considerably outstripped net sales in any other sector, although Ms Woodburn said no particular fund in the sector had stood out.