Over the full year Japan equity funds saw inflows of $1.3bn, while Germany equity funds posted $18.8bn in new money. This compares to outflows of $15.8bn across Western Europe equity funds as a whole.
EPFR Global said the results were provisional full-year totals based on combined monthly and weekly data.
Overall, EPFR Global-tracked equity funds saw $160.1bn in redemptions in 2011, while bond funds posted full-year inflows of $110.6bn.
US equity funds were among the hardest hit, with $75.9bn taken out of them over the course of the year. But they staged a slight recovery in the fourth quarter as improved economic data across the pond sparked investor interest and led to $3.8bn flowing back into the region’s funds between September and December.
Meanwhile, emerging market equity fund groups saw outflows without exception, with Asia ex-Japan reversing the $22bn of inflows it witnessed in 2010 to post redemptions of $23.8bn in 2011.
Latin America Funds were also pillaged, losing $10.7bn between them, after inflows of just $2.6bn a year earlier.
Optimism killed off
"A year that began with investors pouring cash into fund groups they viewed as plays on better-than-expected growth in the developed world, ended with only the most defensive groups carrying momentum into 2012.
"Fund groups associated with Europe, emerging markets and other risker asset classes extended outflow streaks [in the fourth quarter] that in some cases stretch back to the second quarter," said Cameron Brandt, global markets analyst at EPFR Global.
Bond funds focused on emerging markets fared better than their equity counterparts over the full year, posting inflows of $17.2bn.
Global bond funds and US bond funds also saw money coming in over the 12-month period £31.1bn and £62.3bn respectively.
All these inflows represented decreases on those seen in 2010, however, while Europe bond funds unsurprisingly saw redemptions of $29.8bn, compared to inflows of $3bn in 2010.
