LONDON (Reuters) - British investors yanked a net 640 million pounds ($799 million) from equity funds in January, ending a long run of inflows, as UK-focused funds suffered their sixth-biggest monthly net withdrawals on record, funds network Calastone said on Wednesday.

After a wave of bullish sentiment in late 2024 when investors poured money into equity, bond and mixed asset funds, Calastone said UK investors started 2025 "in a more pessimistic mood."

UK-focused funds lost 1.07 billion pounds of cash, despite British shares hitting record highs, Calastone said. European and Asian funds also suffered net outflows, with North American stocks enjoying 576 million pounds of net new money, the data showed.

"The UK stock market reached all-time highs in January, but investors merely took this as an opportunity to get out while the going was good," Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone, said in a statement.

"Apparently nothing can dent the enthusiasm for U.S. stocks, however. Even the DeepSeek AI shock that happened late in the month spurred appetite rather than fear," Glyn added, noting that a day after the DeepSeek-induced selloff, North American equity funds notched their best day of the month for net inflows.

Fixed income funds saw a sharp drop in inflows as government bond yields jumped before calm returned to the market later in January, Calastone said.

($1 = 0.8015 pounds)