Investors poured $39.2 billion to long-term mutual funds in March, driven by continued strong flows to developed international markets and a rebound in flows to intermediate-term bond funds, according to new data from Morningstar.

Investors added $39.2 billion to long-term mutual funds in March, driven by continued strong flows to developed international markets and a rebound in flows to intermediate-term bond funds, according to new data from Morningstar.

Among the highlights of the firm's findings, core intermediate-term bond funds saw inflows of $4.3 billion - their first monthly intake in 11 months - while intermediate-term bond funds collected inflows of $7.4 billion (excluding outflows of $3.1 billion from PIMCO Total Return).

Meanwhile, Fidelity transferred $6.5 billion from equity mutual funds to collective investment trusts – a move which “dragged down” inflows for US equity mutual funds ($2.8 billion for the month).

“But because of this transfer, these mild inflows do not necessarily reflect negative investor sentiment toward equities,” Morningstar said.

Among international equity funds - which took in $11.0 billion in March - foreign large blend led all categories, with inflows of $6.6 billion. Diversified emerging markets funds, meanwhile, rebounded from February outflows to attract inflows of $1.1 billion in March.