Of the top ten fund searches on Morningstar’s website in quarter one of the year, five were emerging markets funds, a sign of continued interest in the region.

The top two are the popular Aberdeen Emerging Markets and First State Global Emerging Market Leaders, the first of which is already soft-closed, meaning it is no longer accepting new money.

The top ten list also includes some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Templeton Global Total Return and Invesco Perpetual High Income, but only two bond funds, as investors turn to equities for returns.

Developed markets, on the other hand, have not seen nearly the same interest as emerging regions and did not appear in the top ten searches.

Holly Cook, managing editor of Morningstar.co.uk, said: “UK, US and European equities have all enjoyed a strong start to 2013, while many emerging markets have struggled year-to-date, highlighting the drawback of chasing ‘hot’ topics.

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“However, despite the riskier nature of areas such as emerging markets and natural resources, we believe these funds present attractive opportunities for investors. All ten are highly rated by Morningstar’s fund analysts and we believe they will continue to outperform their category peers.”

Top ten searched funds on Morningstar.co.uk in Q1

Fund	Morningstar rating
Aberdeen Emerging Markets	Gold
First State Global Emerging Markets Leaders	Gold
Templeton Global Total Return	Bronze
Invesco Perpetual High Income	Gold
BlackRock GlobaL Funds – World Mining	Gold
M&G Strategic Corporate Bond	Gold
Aberdeen Asia Pacific Fund	Gold
Newton Asian Income	Silver
J.P. Morgan Natural Resources	Bronze
First State China Growth	Gold

 Source: Morningstar