By Agencies
Global equity funds saw a significant net outflow of $19.82 billion for the week ending June 18, marking the largest withdrawal in three months.
This decline is attributed to escalating tensions in the Middle East and ongoing uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policies, which have dampened investor confidence.
According to LSEG Lipper data, U.S. equity funds led the regional outflows with net sales totaling $18.43 billion, the sharpest drop in three months. Asia experienced outflows of $2.86 billion, while Europe managed to record net inflows of $640 million.
Despite the overall outflows, equity sectoral funds attracted $573 million in net inflows, marking the fourth consecutive week of positive purchases.
The technology sector led the way with $1.5 billion in inflows, followed by industrials with $752 million. Conversely, financials faced nearly $1.5 billion in net outflows.
On the other hand, global bond funds continued to gain traction, bringing in approximately $13.13 billion in net inflows for the ninth week in a row.
Euro-denominated bond funds attracted $3.07 billion, following a robust $7.97 billion in the previous week. Additionally, short-term and high-yield bond funds garnered $2.93 billion and $1.94 billion, respectively.
In a contrasting trend, investors withdrew a net $2.7 billion from money market funds after net sales of about $4.1 billion the previous week.
Demand for gold and precious metals commodity funds surged, reaching the highest levels in two months with $2.84 billion in net inflows.
Meanwhile, emerging market bond funds saw continued interest, attracting net inflows of $2.5 billion for the eighth consecutive week, even as investors pulled out $234 million from equity funds, according to data covering 29,726 funds.