Fretful European investors pulled almost €119 billion (around $157 billion) from long-term funds last year, accelerating their stampede of 2010 when they withdrew almost €72 billion, according to Morningstar, the research firm.

And the figures also show that negative real interest rates have hit the desire to hold cash in money market funds, while worries about a euro crack-up saw inflows into sterling and dollar money market funds.  

Even among money market portfolios, the desire for liquid cash saw investors pull a net €5.708 billion last year. (The net figures reflect the balance of inflows and outflows.)

“Macroeconomic fears and market volatility scared investors away from equities, with nearly €11 billion fleeing the broad asset class in December and nearly €70 billion for the year as a whole,” Dan Lefkovitz of the firm’s European research team.

In December, money market funds saw a rapid net inflow of €4.454 billion, although the figures for the year as a whole are negative. “This makes 2011 quite different from 2008, when market turmoil sent €155 billion of investor money into the perceived safety of money market funds,” he said.

Reflecting on the impact of the eurozone crisis, data showed that Morningstar’s euro short-term and long-term sectors were the least favourite money market categories last year, with more than €44 billion of outflows.