Despite a number of headwinds we believe there are reasons to be optimistic as the continual flow of positive economic data continues to fuel the momentum and corporate balance sheets remain awash with cash.

We may finally start to see a pick-up in capex spending or mergers and acquisitions during 2014.

The most prominent investment theme throughout 2013 was the hunt for additional income and as the year progressed investor appetite appeared to seek a higher degree of risk in particular a bias towards smaller and mid-sized companies.

The First State Asian Property Securities fund provides investors with exposure to the Asian property market via companies that are involved with it, albeit it does not invest directly in property. The first of four new entrants was the Henderson European Absolute Return fund which seeks to provide investors with an absolute return each year.

The Cazenove UK Smaller Companies fund managed by the very successful Paul Marriage and John Warren, has continually proven successful for investors actively seeking a greater degree of risk, whilst retaining a UK presence from the lower echelons of the market.

The second new entry was the City Financial UK Equity fund which also seeks to achieve positive returns in all stock market cycles via UK equities, though a combination of both physical and synthetic positions.

The third new entrant was the Baillie Gifford British Smaller Companies fund which has generated a successful and consistent performance track record from investment in UK smaller companies and again supports the hunt of higher risk levels.

With America at the heart of the global strengthening, it was hardly surprising to see two funds in the top ten that have investment mandates aimed specifically at the region, however both with very differing approaches in terms of market cap scale. The Fidelity American fund has a typical bias towards larger companies with the core aim of providing long-term capital growth, whilst the Schroder US Mid-Cap fund, which has been a regular entrant over time, specifically targets companies in the mid-cap range.

A regular entrant is the Jupiter Global Managed fund. For investors actively seeking a truly global investment mandate, then the Simon Somerville run fund provides that opportunity, with a heavy US bias.

And finally, the L&G UK Index trust provides the alternative approach for investors who are looking for an investment that simply tracks the performance of an index, in this case the FTSE All-Share index.

December top purchased funds from The Share Centre