Global equity funds recorded their largest weekly inflows in six weeks for the period ending August 13, driven by a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation reading and the extension of a tariff truce between the United States and China, which lifted investor sentiment.
Technology stocks drew strong interest, including Apple Inc which pledged new U.S. investments to avoid potential tariffs on iPhones, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Investors snapped up a net $19.32 billion worth of global equity funds during the week, reversing their net sale of $7.63 billion for the prior week, data from LSEG Lipper showed.
U.S. equity funds led regional inflows of net $8.77 billion, partly refilling the outflow of $13.89 billion the prior week. European and Asian funds, meanwhile, drew in net $7.08 billion and $2.07 billion in weekly investments, respectively.
Technology-focused funds witnessed the strongest weekly demand since February 2021, attracting $4.08 billion in net inflows. Conversely, healthcare and communication services sector funds faced net outflows of $835 million and $646 million, respectively.
Global bond funds remained popular for the 17th-straight week, with a net $15.87 billion in investments during the week.
Short-term bond funds attracted $4.42 billion, their second largest weekly inflow in 16 weeks. Euro-denominated bond funds and corporate bond funds also saw a notable $3.3 billion and $1.37 billion worth of weekly inflows.
Gold and precious metals commodity funds experienced strong demand, drawing in $2.63 billion, the largest weekly inflows in nearly two months. Energy segment funds also witnessed a net $120 million worth of purchases.
Weekly net investments in money market funds, meanwhile, eased to $21.05 billion from a massive $135.28 billion in the week before.
Investors in emerging markets divested a net $1.08 billion worth of equity funds in a second successive weekly sell-off, but amassed a net $1.64 billion worth of bond funds, data for 29,724 funds showed.
