UK's St James's Place reports lower first-half inflows

July 29 (Reuters) - British wealth manager St. James's Place said on Wednesday its first-half inflows fell about 29% as volatile markets and economic uncertainty hurt investor sentiment, prompting some clients to defer investment decisions and withdraw more funds.

A volatile market backdrop, compounded by the Iran conflict and concerns over the global economic outlook, kept investor sentiment cautious during the first half, leading some clients to hold more cash and defer investment decisions, weighing on the wealth manager's inflows.

Despite this, a recovery in equity markets during the latter part of the first-half provided a more supportive backdrop for wealth managers, with UK's largest wealth adviser reporting first-half net inflows of £2.7 billion pounds ($3.59 billion), as compared to £3.8 billion for the same period, prior year.

The company recorded adjusted profit-after tax of £224.4 million, about 5% lower than the £235.8 million it posted last year.

Rival wealth manager Rathbones reported stronger first-half momentum on Wednesday, with funds under management and administration rising 10.7% to £120.7 billion and underlying profit before tax up 14%, as improving Wealth Management inflows in the latter part of the first half offset earlier weakness.

($1 = 0.7519 pounds)

(Reporting by Rishab Shaju and Atharva Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)