Cash outperformed equities, bonds and index-linked investments in the UK last year as the credit crunch pushed equities returns down, according to a new study.

A survey from UK bank Barclays found that equity returns last year rank in the seventh decile when measured against each of the previous 107 years, which means that equities performed worse in 2007 than in at least 70% of the preceding 107 years. However, 2007 still ranks significantly higher than 2002, which was placed in the lowest decile in recorded history.