Global equity funds draw inflows on European rally

(Reuters) - Global equity funds attracted significant inflows in the week ending February 12, after a Bank of England rate cut drove a rally in European shares, although caution over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies limited investor activity.

LSEG Lipper data showed investors bought global equity funds worth a net $5.66 billion during the week, reversing their $2.47 billion in net sales the prior week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index hit new records on five consecutive days this week, driven by strong earnings from companies such as drugmaker AstraZeneca, copper producer Aurubis, and financial services group Societe Generale.

European equity funds attracted a hefty $6.03 billion in inflows during the week, following net purchases of about $3.3 billion in the previous week.

Asian funds attracted a net $1.46 billion while U.S. funds recorded net sales of $2.25 billion.

Global sectoral equity funds also saw a net $258 million worth of sales, the first weekly outflow in six weeks. Consumer discretionary and healthcare funds with $987 million and $645 million, respectively in net sales, led the weekly outflows.

Global bond funds were popular for the seventh week in a row with a net $10.36 billion in purchases.

Global short-term bond funds received $6.22 billion, the highest in five weeks. Loan participation funds and high yield bond funds also experienced robust inflows of $1.3 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Investors, meanwhile, pumped $20.1 billion into money market funds following net purchases of about $75.13 billion the week before.

In the commodities space, demand for gold and other precious metals funds jumped to the highest in four and a half months as investors poured $1.41 billion into these funds. Energy funds also drew a marginal $29.19 million in inflows.

Investors in emerging market equity funds were sellers for a 14th consecutive week as data covering 29,627 of these funds showed outflows of $1.11 billion. Conversely, bond funds added a net $695 million, marking the sixth consecutive weekly inflow.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis)