March 15 (Reuters) – Global equity funds saw notable
inflows in the week to March 13 as investors focused on strong
global stock performances, overlooking inflation concerns ahead
of the Federal Reserve meeting next week that could provide
clues on the timing of the central bank’s interest-rate cuts.
According to data from LSEG, global equity funds saw a net
$22.63 billion worth of inflows during the week, the largest
amount in a week since the first week of February 2022.
Wall Street was set to end marginally higher this week in
spite of hotter-than-expected consumer prices and producer
prices data pointing to sticky inflation.
“Equities continue to disregard moves in rates, as despite
paring back of Fed rate cut pricing in recent months, the S&P500
is up 25% since its October trough,” said Chris Whelan, senior
strategist at TD Securities.
“Furthermore, this comes alongside a broad-based cross-asset
bull-run, with gold and bitcoin garnering much attention as they
recently reached new highs.”
Regionally, European equity funds led with $15.07 billion in
inflows, the most since Feb. 2, 2022. U.S. and Asian equity
funds also saw substantial inflows of $4.93 billion and $2.11
billion, respectively.
Sector-wise, technology funds continued their growth trend,
receiving $1.01 billion, marking the ninth consecutive week of
inflows. Industrial and metals & mining sectors garnered $301
million and $222 million in inflows, respectively, while
consumer discretionary sectors faced net outflows of $962
million.
Meanwhile, global money market funds remained in high demand
for the third week in a row, with $35.51 billion in net
purchases.
Global bond funds also continued their positive streak,
attracting $7.27 billion in the 12th consecutive week of
inflows. Within this segment, medium-term U.S. dollar bonds,
global corporate, and government bond funds drew $2 billion,
$1.78 billion and $475 million respectively.
In commodities, precious metal funds saw outflows diminish
to an 11-week low of $122 million. Conversely, energy funds
experienced their first weekly inflow in three weeks, at $25
million.
Emerging market funds, encompassing 29,721 funds, reported
that bond funds received $473 million, breaking a four-week
trend of outflows. Equity funds in these markets continued to
see outflows, though reduced to $282 million from $1.72 billion
the previous week.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in
Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
