Pimco Total Return posts $3.1 bln outflow in March - Morningstar

By Sam Forgione

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, posted $3.1 billion in outflows in March, extending the fund's record outflow streak to 11 straight months, data from Morningstar showed on Tuesday.

The outflows from the fund, which is run by Pimco co-founder and chief investment officer Bill Gross, reduced the fund's assets to $232 billion.

Investors have pulled $52.1 billion out of the fund since May, according to Morningstar data. Investors pulled $41.1 billion from the fund in 2013 alone, which marked the largest annual outflows from any U.S. mutual fund on record, according to Morningstar data.

Investors have pulled cash out of the fund partly on lagging performance. The fund was down 0.57 percent in March, trailing 95 percent of its peers, according to preliminary data from Morningstar. For the year, the fund has returned 1.294 percent, trailing 85 percent of its fund peers.

Pacific Investment Management Co., a unit of European financial services company Allianz SE , had $1.91 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, according to the firm's website.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Diane Craft)