Data from the Investment Association today backed up other recent reports showing investor money has been flooding into fixed income.
Government bonds were the best-selling sector in May and money market funds were also popular, the IA said, though some bond sectors saw outflows.
Government bonds saw net retail sales of £658mln, short-term money market £382mln and UK gilts funds in third with £344mln sales.
The worst-selling IA sector in May was UK all companies, where investors withdrew £916mln.
Of equity fund, global funds saw the biggest inflows, of £261mln, followed by Asia funds, with UK funds seeing the biggest outflows, of £1.2bn, followed by North America, Japan and Europe.
“Retail investors have woken up and smelled the bond returns, ploughing substantial sums into fixed income funds," said Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell.
He said the inflows into global government bonds UK gilts seems likely to be "a combination of private investors buying government bonds and multi-asset funds boosting their fixed income allocation, seeing as the global government bond sectors are pretty esoteric".
Given higher yields on offer from fixed income, he said it was "hardly surprising" to see investors move in the direction of government bonds.
“However not all fixed income sectors had such a great month," he noted, with corporate bond sector and the sterling strategic bond sector seeing outflows.
"This suggests there is a premium being put on safer government bonds, which makes sense when you can harvest healthy returns without taking on significant credit risk.
"Money market funds also saw large inflows, which again suggests an element of caution amongst investors, but in the world of higher interest rates, that no longer means giving up the ghost on returns."
It is notable that investors are hedging their bets, said Emma Wall, head of investment analysis and research at Hargreaves Lansdown.
She noted that investors seemed to be pursuing two distinct investment strategies – buying US funds and growth-biased equities alongside money market funds, gold and gilts, while cash savings also continue to attract significant flows too.
"These investor patterns reveal the confusion of navigating a seemingly disconnected market and macro.
"The most bought funds for June on HL saw a boost in optimism however – with tech, US, global and growth names interrupted only by renewable energy and infrastructure, despite sticky inflation and worrying growth indicators.
"The outlook? Expect more volatility from here, and remember investing is for the long term."