The move suggested greater confidence among retirees after they concentrated on the US, tech trackers and AI in November.

Hargreaves said SIPP investor confidence remained high with a distinct bias towards risk assets. The top funds table was led by the relatively adventurous Jupiter India and Fidelity Global Technology (see table below).

Emma Wall, head of investment analysis and research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Last month markets, and investor confidence across all sectors, rose. The previous month’s trades were crowded into just a few sectors – the US, tech trackers and AI proved popular with retirees.

“But the improved interest rate outlook clearly made an impact on investor trading last month, as December's most-bought tables saw equity income and corporate bond funds make an appearance.”

She said retirement savers have not turned off their love of tech. She said: “Far from it. Global tech funds, tech-biased global equity funds and even specialist artificial intelligence investments still feature in the top 10 for December.”

Ms Wall said that was “hardly surprising when you consider the Magnificent 7 stocks – Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Tesla and Nvidia – returned 111% on average in 2023, compared to 24% for the S&P 500 as a whole, and just 2.4% for the FTSE 100.”

Source: Hargreaves Lansdown using own customer data