BlackRock experienced its third consecutive month of redemptions in April, while Vanguard recovered from outflows in February, with its highest monthly net inflows in a year (£719m).
According to Morningstar, which compiled the data, investors in the UK and across the continent were cautious in the wake of recent events such as the war in Ukraine.
The iShares Continental European Equity index and HSBC European index faced the greatest redemptions (£434m combined), but growth-biased strategies such as Baillie Gifford European and BlackRock European Dynamic also experienced outflows.
However, Morningstar did identify some winners in the Europe ex-UK equity category, such as Fidelity European, with £186m of net inflows.
A further £1.7bn was redeemed from UK equity funds overall in April, following redemptions of £5bn in the first quarter. Morningstar added that these outflows come despite the UK equity market being one of the strongest worldwide in 2022.
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However, £656bn was added to United Kingdom-domiciled funds in April, with fixed income funds in more favour than equity strategies.
Equity fund outflows totalling £2.5bn were driven by passive and UK offerings, but sustainable funds bucked the trend and remained in favour, with inflows of £1.3bn.
Gilt funds were favoured by investors, as were global equity-income funds. However, US large-cap funds had outflows, as performance in 2022 so far has declined. Global large cap categories had inflows despite a broadly similar performance to US peers in 2022.
While many fossil fuel stocks performed strongly and sustainable funds largely underperformed, ESG-minded investors were not discouraged, and £1.8bn was invested in these funds across the asset classes.
This trend was also clear within equities, which saw £1.3bn invested in sustainable equity vehicles in April.
