Legal & General UK Index was the best-selling fund through The Share Centre in December, according to statistics released today.

The company’s advice team compiled a list of the top-five selling funds in December 2010 and found the L&G UK equity fund to be the most popular, helped by it being the default option for those with child trust funds invested through The Share Centre.

Legg Mason’s Japanese Equity Fund was the second most popular and Aberdeen’s Emerging Markets Fund was third.

Andy Parsons, advice team manager at The Share Centre, said the figures were a surprise, noting that many investors refer to Japan as ‘the land of many false dawns.’

He added that last month’s figures show even if an economy such as Japan may not be seen to be doing well investors are still seeing opportunities emerging.

The fourth most popular fund is Marlborough Special Situations, and in fifth place was the JP Morgan Natural Resources – which, earlier today, announced the launch of its Global Mining Fund.

The Share Centre said these results are notable as December is often an interesting time to view where private investors choose to invest their money in the run-up to Christmas.