INVESTORS CASH IN £962M

INVESTORS pulled £962m from UK-focused equity funds in February, the third-largest monthly outflow ever, as the FTSE 100 hit a record high, says funds network Calastone.

UK equity funds have seen net selling for 21 months in a row, it said, but investors withdrawing their cash piles pressure on the London stock market as firms worried about valuations in the UK look to the US.

Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone, said: ‘The general air of pessimism over UK economic decline, weak Government finances, political chaos and rising corporate taxes seems to have accelerated a trend with consistent outflows from UK funds and inflows to global ones.’