©Reuters. Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) seen on November 15, 2022 in New York City, USA.Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid/File Photo
(Reuters) – Strong industrial and retail data from China and optimism over expected U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts later this year led to gains in global equity funds in the week ending March 20. A large amount of money poured in.
Investors bought a net $15.7 billion worth of global equity funds during the week, after accumulating around $21.95 billion worth of net assets in the previous week, according to LSEG data.
The index hit a new record of 785.62 following Wednesday's announcement by the Fed that it is tightening its stance on interest rate cuts for the third time this year.
By region, US funds led the way with $14.07 billion in inflows, the highest level since mid-June 2023, while Asian funds added $3.29 billion, while European funds led the way with inflows of $14.07 billion. There was an outflow of $1.91 billion.
During the week, tech sector inflows into funds totaled $2.12 billion, the most since February 14, while financial sector inflows totaled $1.02 billion. The metals and mining sector received $459 million.
The streak of inflows into bond funds was extended to 13 weeks, with $4.88 billion inflows, followed by $3.17 billion in corporate bonds and $1.3 billion in government bonds. However, global short-term bonds recorded net withdrawals of $2.12 billion.
Meanwhile, money market funds saw outflows of about $65.9 billion, the first weekly net sell-off in four weeks.
Among commodities, precious metals funds broke a seven-week selling trend and became net buyers worth $1.46 billion, the most since May 2022. Conversely, energy funds suffered outflows worth $102 million.
Equity funds lost money with $450 million in outflows, marking the third consecutive week of net selling, according to data covering 29,715 emerging market funds. Bond funds also recorded net disposals worth $933 million, compared to net purchases worth about $454 million a week earlier.