Global equity funds draw inflows for the eighth week on earnings optimism

July 17 (Reuters) - Global equity funds attracted inflows for an eighth consecutive week through July 15, as investor risk appetite was lifted by a strong start to the earnings season and cooler U.S. inflation data that eased expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Investors made net purchases of $12.46 billion in global equity funds during the week, following a hefty $48.35 billion in net buying the previous week, LSEG Lipper data showed.

Leading Wall Street banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley reported robust earnings earlier this week, alongside ASML, a dominant supplier of AI chipmaking equipment.

By region, Europe led equity fund inflows with net purchases of $9.49 billion during the week. Asian funds also drew $5.4 billion in inflows, while investors divested roughly $4.8 billion from U.S. funds.

Among sector funds, technology attracted $3.37 billion, though that was the smallest inflow in three weeks. Financials and healthcare funds also posted weekly inflows of $567 million and $558 million, respectively.

Global bond funds drew a net $16.16 billion in weekly investments, as investors extended their recent buying streak to a 15th straight week.

Investors pumped $3.38 billion into government bond funds, their largest weekly net purchase since April 8. Short-term bond funds also attracted net weekly inflows of $4.17 billion.

Money market funds, meanwhile, recorded net outflows of $102.53 billion, as investors logged their largest weekly net sales since April 15.

Among commodities, investors bought a net $376 million of gold and other precious-metals funds, snapping an eight-week selling streak. Energy funds, however, faced net weekly outflows of $145 million.

In emerging markets, equity funds saw a revival in demand, drawing net inflows of $2.74 billion after 11 straight weeks of outflows. Bond funds also gained net inflows of $795 million, data for a combined 28,904 funds showed.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Andrew Heavens)