UPDATE 1-U.S. municipal bond fund inflows fall to $311 mln

Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. municipal bond funds reported $311 million of net inflows in the week ended Dec. 12, down slightly from $489 million of inflows in the prior week, according to data released by Lipper on Thursday.

The four-week moving average remained positive at about $604 million, said Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

Municipal bond funds, popular with retail investors, have attracted net weekly inflows for just over a year, barring two periods - the weeks ended April 11 and Oct. 31.

In the latest week, high-yield funds had inflows of $168 million down from $212 million in the previous week.

Flows into exchange-traded municipal bond funds fell to $82.9 million from $98 million in the week ended Dec. 5.

BondDesk Group data for the week ended Dec. 12 showed retail investors bought 1.6 bonds for each one they sold, unchanged from the previous week. The total number of bonds bought was 67,010, while the number of bonds sold was 42,660.

The data is based on odd-lot customer transactions.