The $2.7 billion in equity fund net redemptions negated cumulative inflows of the prior two weeks totaling $1.9 billion.

In the course of the reporting period, the US benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose. 2.19 percent. 

Excluding from the mix exchange-traded funds, anecdotally considered a proxy for institutional investor behavior, equity funds had slightly lower net outflows of $1.96 billion. 

"Equities just didn't have the support from the ETFs that we have seen in the past," said Matthew Lemieux, research analyst at Lipper.  

The large-cap State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF had net outflows of $1.1 billion, followed by a $583 million net outflow from the Invesco Powershares QQQ Trust 1 ETF.

However, on the plus side was a $514 million net inflow for the BlackRock iShares MSCI EAFE index fund, which tracks stocks in developed markets, globally.  

Investors continued their pursuit of yield by plowing more cash into equity income funds, with net new cash of $853 million, extending the inflow streak to 34 consecutive weeks.

Investors have pumped a net $25.6 billion into these funds in the last year.  

"Interest in them is being driven by the uncertainty and volatility in the market, the uncertainty over capital appreciation. Maybe people might be finding solace in the stability of the dividends," said Lemieux.  

Emerging market equities managed a meager $60 million net inflow while the debt funds in the category pulled in $51 million in fresh capital. However, there were outflows from Asia ex-Japan and Latin American equity funds.  

Taxable bond funds pulled in a net $1.6 billion, for a third straight week of gains. Municipal bond fund inflows rebounded to $523 million for five straight weeks of gains. The sector, severely punished in the first half of last year, has seen fresh capital in 16 out of the last 18 weeks. 

"The money that came in (to taxable bond funds) was at a lower rate," said Lemieux, who highlighted that there is still interest in higher quality bonds as well as high yield.  

Corporate investment grade bond funds pulled in a net $1.1 billion while high yield funds had net inflows of $774 million.  

Overall though the level of net change in the flows was subdued at the start of the year, said Lemieux.  

"A lot of the market moves have come off of the news wires over the last six to eight months. There hasn't been a lot of news out of Europe this week and nothing that is churning the market. We'll have to see if activity picks up," he said.