Swedish equity funds took a hit in January as investors withdrew amid market turmoil in Stockholm.

The country’s stock exchange lost 7% of its value in the first month of 2016, with 15.5bn krona (US$1.8bn) taken out of equity funds alone.

Fixed income vehicles also experienced net outflows (2.3bn krona) with large withdrawals from corporate bond funds.

January's statistics from Sweden's Investment Fund Association were released as the country's central bank decided to lower its key interest rate even further below zero.

The Riksbank lowered the repo rate to -0.50 percent from -0.35 percent on Wednesday in a move to revive inflation.

Overall, the value of total fund assets in Sweden decreased by 158bn krona in January, amounting to 3trn krona, of which 1.6trn (54%) were invested in equity funds.

“The turmoil in global equity markets affected net sales of investment funds in January,” said Fredrik Pettersson, chief analyst at the Swedish Investment Fund Association.

“Although, it may be worth noting that most fund savers are long-term investors and that net withdrawals represent under 1% of the total assets held in equity funds.”

Hedge funds bucked the trend in January, recording net deposits of 1.3bn krona.