Global equity fund inflows jump to a five-week high

(Reuters) -Global equity funds saw a surge in inflows in the week through November 5 as investors, optimistic about rising artificial intelligence-linked corporate deals, favored higher allocations during a market correction.

Investors acquired a net $22.37 billion worth of global equity funds in their largest weekly purchase since October 1, data from LSEG Lipper showed.

In a pullback from the record high of last week, the MSCI World Index has lost about 1.6% so far in the latest week.

"While political uncertainty and shifting investor sentiment could inject further volatility into the market, we continue to believe that the fundamentals supporting the rally remain intact," said Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management in a report on Thursday.

"We maintain the view that the equity bull market has further to go and believe under-allocated investors should add exposure to transformative trends including AI," UBS' Haefele said.

U.S. equity funds received $12.6 billion, the largest weekly inflow since October 1. Investors also added Asian and European funds worth $5.95 billion and $2.41 billion, respectively.

The technology sector received about $4.29 billion, the biggest weekly inflow since at least 2022.

Investors, meanwhile, extended purchases in bond funds into a 29th week as they invested a net $10.37 billion into these funds.

Corporate and short-term bond funds received inflows of $3.48 billion and $2.36 billion, respectively.

Demand for money market funds, meanwhile, surged to the highest in 10 months as these funds drew $146.95 billion worth of inflows.

In the commodities segment, investors withdrew $554 million from gold and precious metals funds in a second successive week of net sales.

Emerging market equity funds, meanwhile, saw a second successive weekly inflow to the tune of $1.61 billion, while bond funds faced an outflow of $1.73 billion, data for a combined 28,806 funds showed.    

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Hugh Lawson)