Franklin Templeton tops Europe fund sales in July - Lipper

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors pumped 15 billion euros (12.4 billion pounds) into bond funds in the teeth of a marked rally in equities in July, with investment house Franklin Templeton winning the most inflows of client money in Europe, Lipper FMI said.

Net inflows at the U.S.-headquartered firm were 2.6 billion euros in the month, 2.1 billion euros of which was from bond inflows, the data provider said on Friday.

Pimco, an investment division of German insurer Allianz (ALVG.DE), also sold 2.1 billion euros of fixed income funds to top the bond sales chart.

Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L) was at the top of the equity inflows league with net sales just below 900 million euros, one-third of which came from global emerging markets.

Bond funds accounted for more than two-thirds of total net fund inflows of 22 billion euros in July. Emerging market fixed income funds were the most popular in the bond sector, attracting 4.2 billion euros in net sales.

In June, investors put 7.3 billion euros in bond funds, while the industry saw net outflows of 13.5 billion euros.

Net inflows into equity funds were down by more than two-thirds on the previous month at 610 million euros.

"Even though stock markets rose globally, a reminder of the allure of equity investment, they proved to be a fickle friend. Investors were not beguiled by the upturn and contributed less than half as much to equity products in July," Lipper FMI said in its Fund Flash report.

The MSCI All Country World index .MIWD00000PUS rose by 8 percent during July.

There were further outflows from money market funds, which often act as a safe-haven for cash and are used as an equivalent to bank deposits. Some 9.4 million euros was withdrawn in July, after 30.7 billion euros of net outflows in June.

UK and German investors contributed most to July's inflows with 3.6 billion euros and 3 billion euros respectively.

German inflows were significant as they marked a rebound from the two previous months, injecting a "much needed shot in the arm of the industry," said Lipper FMI.

German investors withdrew a net 3.8 billion euros over May and June, it said.

"While still trailing UK market sales, such an improvement in German activity is significant as it could signal the start of a more deep-seated recovery in the European industry," Lipper said.

French investors continued their withdrawal spree in July, taking away 3.2 billion euros in July and bringing redemptions for the three months to July to 39 billion euros.

(Reporting by Cecilia Valente, Editing by Sharon Lindores)