Global equity funds secure biggest inflows in two years in week ended February 10

(Reuters) – Global equity funds led inflows in the week to Feb. 10, bolstered by upbeat corporate earnings and the prospects of a U.S. stimulus package.

FILE PHOTO: A picture illustration shows U.S. 100 dollar bank notes taken in Tokyo August 2, 2011. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Investors purchased $43.1 billion in equity funds in the past week to Wednesday, the most since at least mid-March 2019, Refinitiv Lipper data showed.

The higher inflows into equity funds come as the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, touched a new peaks on Wednesday.

Bond funds also saw a higher inflow of $18.03 billion, the data showed, thanks to rising U.S. Treasury yields.

(GRAPHIC: Fund flows into global equities, bonds and money markets – )

Funds focused on the information technology sector attracted about $7.2 billion in inflows, the biggest since at least mid-March 2019, data for 1,160 tech funds, based on Lipper’s sector classification, showed.

(GRAPHIC: Global fund flows into equity sectors – )

Emerging market funds also attracted heavy inflows in the week. Refinitiv data covering 14,352 emerging-market equity funds and 9,210 emerging-market bond funds showed inflows worth $3.02 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively.

On the other hand, money market funds witnessed $3.3 billion in outflows, signalling that investors were looking to invest in riskier assets during the week.

(GRAPHIC: Fund flows into EM equities and bonds – )

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