The final week of August saw flows into EPFR Global-tracked Equity Funds stage a modest rebound on the back of bargain hunting and optimism that the US Federal Reserve will pull the trigger on another round of quantitative easing.
But most of the fresh money flowed towards funds associated with safe haven markets or defensive sectors, and investors showed a strong preference for the flexibility offered by ETFs as actively managed equity funds posted collective outflows for the eighth consecutive week, EPFR Global said.
Overall, Equity Funds took in a net $6.02bn during the week ending August 31 — their best showing since the first week of July — with US and Germany Equity Funds accounting for nearly all of these inflows. Money Market Funds absorbed a modest $3.12bn while Bond Funds had collective outflows of $791m for the week.
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