May 4 (Reuters) – Global equity funds drew inflows for a sixth straight week through April 29, as optimism over strong first-quarter earnings outweighed investor concerns about the Middle East conflict and higher oil prices.
According to LSEG Lipper data, global equity funds attracted a net $18.91 billion during the week, following a hefty $48.67 billion of net inflows the previous week.
The MSCI World Index hit a record high of 1,084.69 last week after several major U.S. tech companies and South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics reported robust results.
LSEG data covering 525 MSCI World constituents showed that about 72% of companies beat analysts’ average profit estimates for the first quarter.
Asian equity funds saw a record $10.82 billion weekly net inflow, driven by $8.27 billion into Japanese funds and $2.31 billion into South Korean domestic funds.
European and U.S. equity funds recorded net weekly inflows of $5.83 billion and $911 million, respectively.
The tech sector attracted a net $3.48 billion over the week, lifting total monthly inflows to a net $22.9 billion.
Global bond funds were popular for a fourth successive week, drawing a net $14.19 billion.
Government bond funds attracted a net $3.07 billion, the largest inflow in three weeks, while high-yield bond funds took in a net $2.44 billion.
Money market funds posted a third straight week of outflows, with investors withdrawing a net $36.5 billion.
Investors also pulled a net $1.46 billion from gold and other precious metals commodity funds, snapping a four-week run of inflows.
In emerging markets, equity funds saw net outflows of $372 million after three weeks of gains, while bond funds attracted a net $999 million for a fourth consecutive week of inflows, data for 28,889 funds showed.
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra. Editing by Mark Potter)