IMA reports net retail sales of £1.1bn in January – Andrew Sullivan reports
For the 10th month in a row, net retail sales in January topped £1bn – nearly double last January’s £537m.
And while equity funds remained the best-selling asset class with net retail sales of £464m, the top-selling sector was Targeted Absolute Return with sales of £343m, the highest since December 2009.
Its monthly average over the previous year was £184m, and its position in the December 2013 report was 4th. These figures are indicative not only of the sector’s traditional popularity with retail investors but also of renewed interest from other quarters.
The top 5 IMA sectors for January 2014
- · Targeted Absolute Return (£343m net)
- · UK Smaller Companies (£241m net, the highest ever and first appearance in top 5 for 13 years)
- · Property (£232m net, previous year’s monthly average £128m)
- · UK All Companies (£213m net, previous year’s monthly average £13m)
- · Europe excluding Europe (£200m net, previous year’s monthly average £104m)
UK and Europe were the best-selling regions for equity, followed by Japan but trailed by Global, North America and Asia who all saw a net retail outflow.
