Emerging-market stock funds are enjoying their best start to a year since 2006 in terms of inflows, according to data collated by EPFR Global.
Funds focused on developing-nation stocks posted a net inflow of $453 million for the week ended March 14, the 11th straight weekly increase, as demand for riskier, emerging-market equities offset prospects for slower growth in China, according to EPFR, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data provider.
Net investment into the funds has totaled $23.08 billion in 2012, compared with outflows of $17.85 billion for the same period of 2011, according to an EPFR report. Inflows topped $24.68 billion in the same period of 2006, the data show.
Concern China's economy will slow was reflected in the first back-to-back weekly decline in 2012 of inflows into Asian funds excluding Japan. These funds recorded net outflow of $352 million, Cameron Brandt, EPFR director of research, said.
So-called Global Emerging-Market funds, or GEM funds, recorded net inflow for the week of $736 million, the data show. Latin American funds were bolstered by data showing improvement in the US economy, posting net inflows of $93 million. Latin American funds snapped a two-week streak of outflows, pushing net inflows for 2012 over $400 million compared to outflows of $1.82 billion during the same period last year.
Russia equity funds recorded net inflow of $62 million, the seventh consecutive weekly increase, as crude remained over $100 a barrel for more than a month.
The average emerging-market equity portfolio posted a 2.8 per cent gain for the week, boosting the advance in 2012 to 16.2 per cent, Brandt said. Emerging-market bond funds registered inflows of $1.43 billion, he said.