Demand for European funds boosts global equity fund inflows to seven-week high

Nov 13 (Reuters) - European funds led inflows into global equity funds in the week to November 11, supported by strong earnings and lower crude oil prices, despite a recent selloff in US technology stocks.

Net inflows of $35.13 billion into European funds — the largest weekly total since June 2021 — helped lift total net inflows into global equity funds to $50.99 billion, their highest since September 23, according to LSEG Lipper data.

US and Asian equity funds attracted net purchases of $6.6 billion and $6.15 billion, respectively, during the week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 reached a record high of 666.58 on Thursday, buoyed by strong earnings from Italian lender UniCredit, robust 2027 profit margin forecasts from AI equipment maker Siemens Energy, and an encouraging earnings outlook from US-based neocloud company CoreWeave.

Among sectoral funds, technology, healthcare and financials attracted net inflows of $2.62 billion, $833 million and $820 million, respectively, while industrials recorded weekly net outflows of $1.07 billion.

Global bond funds recorded net weekly outflows of $507.89 million, ending a seven-week run of inflows.

Government bond funds saw net outflows of $488.8 million, following net inflows of $5.17 billion in the previous week. Investors also withdrew a net $1.72 billion from dollar-denominated global bond funds, while purchasing a net $2.07 billion in corporate bond funds.

Investors also withdrew a net $37.48 billion from money market funds after making net purchases of $174.22 billion in the previous week.

In commodities, gold and other precious metals funds remained popular for a second straight week, attracting net inflows of $614 million. Investors also bought $215.43 million in energy funds, extending the recent streak of net purchases to four consecutive weeks.

In emerging markets, equity funds attracted a net $4.65 billion, their largest weekly inflow in three weeks. However, investors withdrew a net $657.44 million from bond funds, marking a third consecutive week of outflows, data for a combined 29,202 funds showed.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra. Editing by Mark Potter)