Global equity funds post outflows for fifth week in a row

May 19 (Reuters) – Global equity funds suffered outflows for a fifth straight week in the week to May 17, undermined by uncertainties over the US debt ceiling and concerns about the global economy, with soft economic data coming out of the US and China.

According to Refinitiv Lipper data, global equity funds faced USD 8.72 billion worth of outflows in the week to May 17, compared with about USD 4.77 billion worth of net selling in the previous week.

The US and European equity funds recorded withdrawals of USD 7.64 billion and USD 1.81 billion respectively during the week, but Asian funds received USD 180 million worth of inflows.

Healthcare, financial, and energy sector equity funds faced net outflows of USD 698 million, USD 677 million, and USD 410 million, respectively, but tech secured a net of USD 906 million worth of inflows.

Meanwhile, investors favored safer government bond funds and money market funds as both obtained a fourth weekly inflow in a row, worth about USD 2.23 billion and USD 9.96 billion, respectively.

The data also showed that combined net inflows into global bond funds stood at USD 4.31 billion during the week, with short- and medium-term funds drawing a net USD 3.45 billion worth of inflows. Meanwhile, high-yield funds had about USD 2 billion worth of outflow.

Among commodities, precious metal funds received USD 236 million marking a fourth straight week of inflows but investors exited USD 84 million worth of energy funds after three weeks of net buying in a row.

Data for 23,976 emerging market funds showed equity funds obtained a net USD 684 million in a third weekly inflow in a row, while bond funds drew USD 43 million worth of net purchases after three weeks of outflows.

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)