The latest Lipper data showed that 435 new funds were launched in the last quarter, while 600 funds were either liquidated or merged away.
The net loss of 165 funds made it the eighth quarter of net funds withdrawn from the market, although the trend of negative net numbers has been slowing since the second quarter in 2012.
The number of launches was the lowest for the first quarter of a year since the start of 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis, and was a 46 per cent decrease from the peak of 810 launches in 2010.
However, 165 new bond funds were launched in the quarter, while only 91 funds were merged or liquidated, whereas all other asset classes saw a net loss of funds.
