Investors using the Hargreaves Lansdown platform embraced Asian and emerging market equity funds in December.
The platform released its most bought funds on its platform, with JP Morgan Emerging Markets, First State Asia, and Schroders Tokyo among the 10 most bought funds.
The MSCI Emerging Markets index underperformed the broader MSCI All Country World index in the 2018 calendar year, but over the past three months emerging markets have returned just over 10 per cent, compared with 1 per cent for the rest of the world.
The pair of open ended funds run by Nick Train, the Lindsell Train UK Equity and Lindsell Train Global Equity, and the £16bn Fundsmith Equity fund also made the top 10.
Dzmitry Lipski, investment analyst at Interactive Investor, said: "[Fundsmith] has delivered strong returns and beat its IA Global sector and MSCI World index benchmark in every full calendar year since inception.
"Among its peers, the fund stands out as the best performer not only on an absolute return basis but also on a risk adjusted basis."
The most bought investment trust was the £1.6bn City of London trust which has increased its dividend for each of the past 51 years. Its manager, Job Curtis, recently increased the level of debt in the trust to buy more UK equities.
Most bought funds, stocks, trusts and trackers by Hargreaves Landsdown clients (all listed alphabetically) | |||
Active Funds | FTSE 100 Stocks | Investment Trusts | Trackers |
First State Asia Focus | Aviva | City of London Investment Trust | HSBC FTSE 250 Index |
Fundsmith Equity | BP | Edinburgh Investment Trust Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust | Legal & General European Index |
JPMorgan Emerging Markets | GlaxoSmithKline | Finsbury Growth & Income Trust plc | Legal & General International Index Trust |
Lindsell Train Global Equity | GVC Holdings | JP Morgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust | Legal & General UK Index |
Lindsell Train UK Equity | Lloyds Banking Group | Lindsell Train Investment Trust | Legal & General US Index |
Marlborough Multi Cap Income | Royal Dutch Shell | Merchants Trust | |
Newton Global Income | Smith (DS) | Murray International Trust | |
Royal London Sterling Extra Yield Bond | Unilever |
| |
Schroder Tokyo | Vodafone |
| |
Threadneedle UK Equity Income | 3i Group |