Global equity funds draw inflows for 11th week as upbeat earnings lift sentiment

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Global equity funds recorded inflows for an 11th consecutive week, as optimism about a strong earnings season and cooling crude oil prices boosted investors' appetite for risk assets.

Investors poured a net $21.15 billion into global equity funds for the week ended August 5, following roughly $27.72 billion in net purchases the previous week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Amazon reported its strongest cloud growth in more than four years last week. Caterpillar, widely viewed as a bellwether for the global industrial economy, and Palantir Technologies posted strong results earlier this week.

Earnings data from around 808 MSCI World constituent companies that have reported so far show that their combined profits for the latest quarter rose 40.9% from a year earlier, with about 75% beating analysts' forecasts.

By region, European equity funds attracted $12.52 billion—the largest weekly inflow since July 8—while Asian funds recorded $8.15 billion in inflows. U.S. funds, however, bucked the trend, with about $1.58 billion in outflows.

Among sectoral funds, inflows into technology funds eased to a six-week low of $1.44 billion. Industrials, consumer discretionary and healthcare funds recorded net purchases of $1.08 billion, $710 million and $653 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, investors added a net $12.27 billion to global bond funds, marking their largest weekly net purchase in three weeks.

High-yield funds attracted $3.66 billion, the largest weekly inflow in five weeks. Short-term bond funds and loan participation funds recorded inflows of $3.43 billion and $915 million, respectively.

Money market funds attracted net inflows of $57.48 billion, ending a three-week run of net outflows.

Among commodity funds, gold and other precious metals funds remained popular for a fourth consecutive week, attracting net inflows of $345 million. Energy funds, meanwhile, recorded a second straight weekly outflow of $153 million.

In emerging markets, equity funds gained momentum, with weekly inflows climbing to a more than five-month high of $9.26 billion. Bond funds also attracted $303 million in net investments, data covering 28,959 funds showed.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)