Global equity funds extend their inflow streak! Six consecutive weeks of inflows, but investors slow their pace as AI trades cool

In the week ending October 28, global equity funds attracted substantial inflows, but the pace of inflows slowed. According to data from Lipper, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), investors net purchased US$10.19 billion of global equity funds during the week, marking the sixth consecutive week of net buying, although the scale of inflows was lower than the previous week's US$25.06 billion. As AI and chip stocks rebounded, with South Korea's SK Hynix leading gains after reporting record quarterly profit, investor demand for technology funds and Asian funds rose accordingly. Nevertheless, the week's data showed that some caution remained in the market toward AI trades ahead of earnings reports from AI giants Alphabet (GOOGL.US), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US), and Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US). By region, Asian equity funds led inflows, attracting US$9.9 billion in net buying, down from US$11.58 billion the previous week. Investors put US$4.54 billion into European funds but net withdrew US$6.65 billion from U.S. equity funds. By sector funds, investors allocated US$5.5 billion to the technology sector, up from US$5.07 billion the previous week. Industrial sector funds also attracted US$408 million in inflows, while utility funds saw US$928 million in outflows. Meanwhile, net inflows into global bond funds fell to US$2.72 billion, the lowest level in six weeks. Specifically, global short-term bond funds saw US$2.67 billion in outflows during the week, recording net redemptions for the first time since April 15. Investors bought US$2.62 billion of government bond funds and US$1.01 billion of corporate bond funds, respectively. Money market funds recorded US$38.5 billion in net outflows, reversing the previous week's US$1.695 billion in inflows. In commodities, investors withdrew US$1.51 billion from gold and other precious metals funds, marking net redemptions for the second time in the past seven weeks. However, energy funds attracted US$177 million in inflows. In emerging markets, data covering 29,184 emerging market funds showed that equity funds were favored by investors for a third consecutive week, recording US$2.2 billion in net inflows. However, bond funds saw US$1.85 billion in net redemptions, the largest weekly outflow since the week ending September 30.