Star manager Neil Woodford's first eponymous fund, the CF Woodford Equity Income, is proving to be a summer favourite among UK investors.
Data from The Share Centre shows the £6.7bn vehicle - which has returned 14.95% to holders in the past twelve months - was the City’s top traded fund in August.
That means it’s been the number one choice for three months in a row and clearly seen by investors as safe haven amidst the current market volatility.
“Neil extremely popular and highly regarded by investors for the consistency of his investment approach, which should stand out during this time of market volatility,” said The Share Centre’s Sheridan Adams.
UK equities have seen sharp falls over the past couple of weeks - largely down to plummeting Chinese stock prices - and Woodford’s fund is down 1.8% since the end of July thugh remains up more than 10% year-to-date.
Top holdings in the fund, which aims to deliver a positive return over the long term, include Imperial Tobacco (LON:IMT) 7.4%, AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) 7.3% and GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) 6.3%.
This week, the fund manager said he remained cautious on global growth outlook, adding that weak global growth and productivity, deflation and excessive debt remained his principal concerns.
Other popular funds in August included the Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities fund and AXA Framlington’s Biotech vehicle.
Four unit trusts focused on replicating the performance of various UK FTSE indices featured in the top ten, including Vanguard’s FTSE All Share Index trust and HSBC’s FTSE 250 Index trust.
Having four tracker funds in the top ten is ‘unprecedented’ in comparison to previous months, according to The Share Centre’s Adams.
He reckons this could be the result of investors losing confidence in active management strategies, or looking for more cost effective ways of gaining access to a diverse range of UK companies.