British retail investors pour $3 bln into equity funds, highest in 15 yrs

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - British retail investors poured more than 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion) into equity funds in July, the highest since April 2000, The Investment Association said on Thursday.

The investment included 943 million pounds allocated to UK equity funds, the highest level since March 1999.

"Although it remains to be seen what impact August's volatility has on fund sales, retail investors had a strong appetite for equities in July, particularly UK equity funds which saw their highest net sales in over 15 years," Daniel Godfrey, the association's chief executive, said.

Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) net retail fund sales in Britain was 3 billion pounds in July. ($1 = 0.6532 pounds) (Reporting by Nishant Kumar; editing by Carolyn Cohn)