Indeed the Japan sector was the fifth most popular investment peer group for the month of November, contrasting heavily to October 2015 when the sector witnessed net outflows of £42m and was languishing 31st out of 36 in the overall sector rankings.

Moving up from third in the rankings in October, the most popular sector in November was UK Equity Income which saw £448m of inflows. It represents the fifth time the peer group has been the most popular among retail investors in 2015, as the hunt for income continues to be a prevalent theme.

Last month’s most popular peer group, Targeted Absolute Return, dropped into second spot with net inflows of £306m, while taking third spot with net inflows of £232m was the Europe ex UK sector.

Meanwhile the least popular sector in November was Global Emerging Markets which suffered outflows totalling £69m. Funds in the China/Greater China sector were the second least popular, with redemptions hitting £49.3m.

Overall total net retail sales for November hit £1.7bn, which was the highest figure since July 2015 and the second highest for the year in total.

Guy Sears, interim chief executive of the Investment Association, said: “”This was mainly driven by investors looking to equity funds for returns, with UK and European focused products leading the way. We also saw renewed investor appetite for Japanese equity funds as the sector returned to the top five selling with net retail sales nearly double their 12-month average.”

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