Global equity fund inflows jump to a five-week high

(Reuters) -Global equity funds saw a surge in inflows in the week through November 5 as investors, optimistic about rising artificial ​intelligence-linked corporate deals, favored higher allocations during a market correction.

Investors acquired ‌a net $22.37 billion worth of global equity funds in their largest weekly purchase since October 1,‌ data from LSEG Lipper showed.

In a pullback from the record high of last week, the MSCI World Index has lost about 1.6% so far in the latest week.

“While political uncertainty and shifting investor sentiment could inject further volatility into the market, ⁠we continue to believe that ‌the fundamentals supporting the rally remain intact,” said Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management in a report ‍on Thursday.

“We maintain the view that the equity bull market has further to go and believe under-allocated investors should add exposure to transformative trends including AI,” UBS’ Haefele ​said.

U.S. equity funds received $12.6 billion, the largest weekly inflow ‌since October 1. Investors also added Asian and European funds worth $5.95 billion and $2.41 billion, respectively.

The technology sector received about $4.29 billion, the biggest weekly inflow since at least 2022.

Investors, meanwhile, extended purchases in bond funds into a 29th week as they invested a net $10.37 billion into these funds.

Corporate ⁠and short-term bond funds received inflows of $3.​48 billion and $2.36 billion, respectively.

Demand for ​money market funds, meanwhile, surged to the highest in 10 months as these funds drew $146.95 billion worth of inflows.

In the commodities ‍segment, investors withdrew ⁠$554 million from gold and precious metals funds in a second successive week of net sales.

Emerging market equity funds, meanwhile, saw a second successive weekly ⁠inflow to the tune of $1.61 billion, while bond funds faced an outflow of $1.73 ‌billion, data for a combined 28,806 funds showed.

(Reporting ‌by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Hugh Lawson)