Boosted by a strong stockmarket rally, Europe’s equity funds were also back in the black, enjoying net inflows of €845 million, of which emerging markets, global and Chinese equity funds were the main attractions.

According to Lipper, just under half of the markets under review posted net sales for March, and although sales were under par at €845 million this was the best total of the year to date. The firm expects that more is likely in April, but cautions that it is hard to say whether this is anything more than a bear-market rally.

Lipper reports that bond fund outflows reached €6.8 billion in March, more than double relative to February, on the back of inflationary fears following quantitative easing. Italian, German and Spanish investors led the rout, although there was also a surprising surge of outflows in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Support for bond funds may have evaporated across Europe, but the UK is diverging from the trend: best selling sectors were sterling and euro bonds, Lipper notes, the former attracting inflows of €1.6 billion.