US investors pulled a record $65bn out of mutual funds in the week to last Friday, amid mounting losses from falling stock markets.

Two-thirds of the money was drawn from equity funds, which saw outflows of close to $9bn on Friday alone. Equity funds have had outflows of $56bn during October so far â?? the largest monthly drop since records began almost 20 years ago, according to TrimTabs, which tracks fund flows.

Hedge funds also saw big redemptions during September. Figures are still being compiled, but the final number is likely to reach tens of billions of dollars in outflows for the month.

Charles Biderman, the chief executive of TrimTabs, said a significant difference between this and previous fund sell-offs was that investors were pulling out of both bond funds and equity funds, as well as from hedge funds, money market funds and bank savings accounts.