In April, British investors added record new capital to equity funds for the second month in a row. Net inflows hit a record £2.98 billion and took the year-to-date total to £7.93bn, easily the best start to a year since Calastone began recording figures in 2015. The last six months have seen four of the best months of inflows to equity funds on record. At 55.7, Calastone’s FFI:Equity was the most positive reading since April 2020.
Key highlights from this month's FFI:
- Record inflows see £2.98bn added to global equity funds in April – marking the second consecutive month of record inflows into equities
- The last six months have seen four of the best on record for equity fund inflows
- Year-to-date total inflows into equity funds reached £7.93bn – the best on record since the FFI launched in 2015
- Investors favour global, North American and UK funds, with demand for European equity funds waning
- Active funds continue to fight back hard against passives, seeing more inflows in five of the last six months – in April active inflows came in comfortably higher than passive
- ESG has contributed to active management recently, but in April conventional active funds easily won out
- Total inflows across all asset classes hit a record £6.1bn in April