Global equities were on course for their steepest weekly decline since mid-July on Friday, as rising borrowing costs pressured valuations and weakened investor sentiment.
The market decline came despite continued demand for equities, with fund-flow data showing that investors remained willing to allocate money to stocks and bonds even as higher government bond yields, rising oil prices and renewed inflation concerns weighed on markets.
About 90% of companies in the MSCI World Index had reported their second-quarter earnings, with combined net income rising 39.7% from a year earlier, according to LSEG data.
Investor sentiment had strengthened earlier in the week following Anthropic’s projection of strong revenue growth. Attention has since shifted to Nvidia’s results next week, with investors looking for fresh signals on demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and data-centre operations.
Despite the broader market weakness, equity funds continued to attract substantial investor interest during the week.
US equity funds recorded $11.72 billion in inflows, their largest weekly inflow since July 29. European equity funds attracted $4.70 billion, while Asian equity funds received $2.96 billion.
Technology funds also returned to positive territory, attracting $1.55 billion after recording net outflows the previous week. Gold and precious-metals equity funds received $536 million, while financial-sector funds recorded $1.59 billion in outflows.
Bond funds maintained their strong performance, recording net inflows for a 20th consecutive week. Investors added $15.42 billion to bond funds during the period.
Hard-currency bond funds attracted $4.49 billion, their largest weekly inflow since July 8. Short-term bond funds received $3.32 billion, while government bond funds recorded $1.99 billion in inflows.
Money-market funds attracted $3.71 billion, their lowest weekly inflow in three weeks, suggesting investors continued to favour risk assets despite growing concerns over market conditions.
In commodities, gold and other precious-metals funds received $2.04 billion, extending their inflow streak to six consecutive weeks. Energy funds, however, recorded $146 million in outflows after attracting $434 million the previous week.
Emerging-market funds also maintained strong demand for equities. Data covering 28,980 funds showed equity funds attracting $1.57 billion, marking their sixth consecutive week of inflows.
Emerging-market bond funds recorded $493 million in net inflows, extending their positive run to three consecutive weeks.
The fund-flow figures point to continued investor appetite for equities and bonds despite the deterioration in global market sentiment. However, higher borrowing costs, rising oil prices and persistent inflation concerns remain key risks for markets in the near term.
Goodness Anunobi
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