LONDON (Reuters) – European investors pulled a record 24 billion euros (16 billion pounds) from funds in June as they took fright from a fall in equities a month earlier, though British investors reacted more calmly, according to a report on Friday.
Feri, a fund research company, said sharp falls in equity markets and a rush by French investors to withdraw funds to pay seasonal tax demands fuelled the largest pullout from European funds since Feri started tracking the industry in 2001.
The 24-billion-euro withdrawal, based on data from 22 European nations, was nearly twice as large as that which followed shortly after the United States was attacked in September 11, 2001, Feri said.
“The equity setback was substantial, hitting particularly those sectors that had boomed during the first quarter,” Feri said in its monthly snapshot of fund trends.
When the data is broken down for separate European nations, however, it shows that British investors took a different tack from the European average by putting more money into funds.
