Top of the funds charts for The Share Centre
Andy Parsons, advice team manager at The Share Centre lists the top purchased funds during December 2010 and explains why investors may have favoured these funds.
Legal & General UK Index Trust
Legg Mason Japan Equity
Aberdeen Emerging Markets
Marlborough Special Situations
JPM Natural Resources
During December investing is often the last thing on most investor's minds, particularly given the other more pressing financial issues the vast majority are faced with. It is therefore intriguing to see where investors preferred to invest and whether it differs from previous months of the year.
Retaining the top spot for another month is the Legal & General UK Index fund. As the default investment option for those who had their child trust fund voucher invested via The Share Centre and did not select their own fund, we expect this fund to sit in our top five funds for some time to come.
In second place and focusing on an investment area that may have been off many investors radar for some time was the Legg Mason Japan Equity fund. Japan is widely renown as the ‘land of the rising sun', however, for many investors over the past number of years it would be best described as the ‘land of many false dawns'. Looking forward, we may see more of this region in our funds chart during 2011 as there is an increasing swell of optimism around Japanese equities.
In the same spot as November, at number three was the Aberdeen Emerging Markets fund. This fund is one of the most widely recognised and heavily supported emerging market funds. It currently has around £2200m invested in it and is a true giant in this arena. Investors should also note this fund does not solely concentrate on the BRIC regions, offering a wider emerging markets diversification.
The fourth most popular fund was the actively managed UK fund, Marlborough Special Situations, which is managed by the highly impressive Giles Hargreave and his team. Finally, the fifth most popular purchased fund was one of the longest serving within the commodity arena, the JP Morgan Natural Resources.